The increasing scale and intensity of modern blast-furnace operation, combined with a simultaneous reduction in coke rate, have led to more stringent coke quality requirements with a greater emphasis on the coke's (1 2) role as a burden spacer ' Accordingly, coke quality data limited to chemical composition, initial size grading and ambient size stability are insufficient to predict the coke's behaviour in use. A realistic assess ment of the likely performance of coke should also take into consideration its resistance to degradation in the chemical and thermal environment of the blast...