TC-Toolbox Process Metallurgy Examples
You can find several learning resources on the Process Metallurgy page of our website (or in Thermo‑Calc, go to Help → Thermo‑Calc website). You can also subscribe to the Thermo‑Calc newsletter to be kept up-to-date about upcoming releases, training, examples, videos and much more.

This example shows how to create a basic adiabatic equilibrium calculation for a process metallurgical problem. The equilibrium between a steel and slag melt and oxygen is calculated.
File name: matex_PMET_01_Single_adiabatic_equilibrium.m
and the OXDEMO database is used.
This example has some text output for the calculation result:
Stable phases: {'GAS#1', 'IONIC_LIQ#2', 'IONIC_LIQ#1', 'HATRURITE#1'}
Temperature: 1758.4 °C Slag phases: {'IONIC_LIQ#2', 'HATRURITE#1'}
Composition of the overall slag:
Al2O3 = 9.41 mol-%
C = 0.42 mol-%
CaO = 70.43 mol-%
Fe2O3 = 0.00 mol-%
FeO = 0.01 mol-%
SiO2 = 19.73 mol-%

This example shows how to create adiabatic equilibrium calculations for varied pressure. The equilibrium between a steel and slag melt and oxygen is calculated.
File name: matex_PMET_02_Stepping_adiabatic_equilibrium.m
and the OXDEMO database is used.

This example shows how to create isothermal equilibrium calculations with varied composition of two steel components.
File name: matex_PMET_03_Mapping_isothermal_equilibrium.m
.
To run this example requires TCOX9 and higher.

This example shows how a very simplified process simulation of a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) converter can be set up.
File name: matex_PMET_04_Simple_process_simulation.m
and the OXDEMO database is used.

This is example shows how a Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization (VOD) refining process could be modeled. It is inspired by the work of Ding et al. [2000Din] and the validation data is derived from the paper.
File name: matex_PMET_05_VOD_process_simulation.m
To run this example requires TCOX9 and higher. Slight model adjustments might be required based on the version.
This example is based on the Graphical Mode example, PMET_07: Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization Kinetics, which is also an application example showcased on our website.
This model shows several features of process simulations, such as:
- time-dependent mass transfer coefficients
- time-dependent pressure
- inclusion flotation
- cooling due to heat losses
- heat transfer between the zones
- control of degassing
This example takes several minutes to calculate. The results are updated continually. The plot examples shown are the final iterations.
For this specific example, several plots are generated. There are slight differences compared to the application example on the website. For general background theory and an overview of how the example is set up and to interpret the results, it is recommended to read the PDF, also available on the website.

[2000Din] R. Ding, B. Blanpain, P. T. Jones, P. Wollants, Modeling of the vacuum oxygen decarburization refining process. Metall. Mater. Trans. B. 31, 197–206 (2000).