FOREWORD

The Sixth International Conference on Molten Slags, Fluxes and Salts held in Stockholm and Helsinki was considered a great success by a number of participants. The response from all over the world was overwhelming. Apart from Sweden and Finland, countries like Japan, Australia and UK were strongly represented. The number of delegates was nearly 400, highest among all the conferences in this series so far. 206 scientific lectures and 47 poster presentations showed the volume and depth of the work going in this field all around the world. Three industrial workshops, one on ”Slag/ Refractory Reactions”, another on ”Mould Fluxes” and the third on ”Aluminium Production Technology” were organised to represent the applied aspects of the three main branches of the conference. The number of registrations to these workshops was far beyond our expectations. Even a modest exhibition was arranged as part of the conference. Two panel discussions were also arranged in Helsinki. The whole scenario indicated that this field of ionic melts has expanded to an enormous global dimension and is still growing, providing thus an optimistic projection towards the future.

A brief account of the conference itself in the foreword is felt to be appropriate. Each day of the conference began with a panoramic lecture by an eminent scientist, the first day on slags by Prof. T. Emi, the second day on fluxes by Prof. K. C. Mills and the third day on molten salts by Prof. D. Sadoway. Five parallel sessions were held in Stockholm and four in Helsinki in order to accommodate all the presentations. The poster sessions were placed suitably to provide enough room for discussions between the authors and conference delegates. Three lunch lectures by Prof. S. Suresh, Prof. I. Egry and Prof. G. Ottonello high-lighted subjects deviating from the main theme of the conference, but still relevant to slags.

The Sixth Conference in the series deviates from the past tradition in giving out the proceedings in the form of a CD-ROM. This is not only to keep in line with the advancements in the information technology; but also to hold the production costs low. The final versions of the typescripts of the authors have been reproduced in their original forms after a reviewing procedure.

All the indicators in this conference pointed to the opening of new frontiers in this area during this millennium. It is hoped that the Seventh Conference in Molten Slags, Fluxes and Salts in Cape Town, South Africa will be even a greater success.

SESHADRI SEETHARAMAN
Conference Chairman