Thermodynamic assessment and database for the Cu–Fe–O–S system

The previously obtained thermodynamic databases for the Cu–Fe–S, Cu–Fe–O, Fe–O–S and Cu–O–S ternary systems have been combined and used to predict thermodynamic equilibria in the quaternary Cu–Fe–O–S system. The available experimental data were compared with model predictions. Minor modifications of model parameters were required to better describe the experimental points in the quaternary system; the effect of these changes was verified in the ternary subsystems. The procedure was developed to calculate the isothermal sections of the phase diagram of the quaternary system inside the tetrahedron. The liquid phase over the whole composition range from metallic liquid to sulfide melt to oxide melt has been described by a single model developed within the framework of the quasichemical formalism. The obtained self-consistent set of model parameters can be used as a basis for the development of a thermodynamic database for simulation of copper smelting and converting.