4. Physico-chemistry of refining

The chemical reactions inside the converter during refining are complex and often very rapid. The complexity of the system stems from the multiplicity of phases: solid for scrap and flux, liquid for metal and slag, and gaseous. Throughout the oxygen blowing process, the proportion, analysis and temperature of each phase evolve. Very few measurements of the parameters characterizing the evolution of the system are possible during refining. It is therefore only through a posteriori analyses, laboratory simulations, observation of the effects of a variation in the parameters of the operation and knowledge of the elementary mechanisms of these reactions, that we have been able to understand, at least partially, the phenomena involved. However, their full quantitative description is still under study.