Most manufacturers of ladle lining brick use additives to improve the resistance of the brick to the increasingly severe operating conditions to which they are exposed. In terms of consumption, the largest single calcined high alumina material used as an additive is calcined bauxite. These materials change some of the properties of the ladle brick for the worse to some extent. For example, bricks containing bauxite as an additive normally expand less when heated, resulting in increased joint penetration by the molten metal.