The Influence of Structure on the Physico-chemical Properties of Slags.

The current knowledge of the structures of silicate slags is summarisedand the relationships between measures of the depolymerisation of the melt and various physical properties are examined.It is shown that the optical basicity when corrected for the cations required to charge-balance any AIO~t etrahedra present, provides a reasonable measure of the depolymerisation of the melt and has the advantage over the (NBO/T) ratio that it compensates for cation effects, It is shown that the depolymerisation of the meit is the primary factor affecting most physical properties, the cations having only a secondary effect.The relationships betweenstructure and the viscosity, electrical and thermal conductivity, diffusion coefficient, density, thermal expansion coefficient, thermodynamicand optical properties of melts are discussed.