A kinetic model is developed to describe the transfer of alloying elements between the slag and the metal during flux-shielded welding. The model accounts for changes in alloy recovery based on the geometry of the resulting weld bead. It also distinguishes compositional differences between single-pass and multiple-pass weld beads. It is further shown that the final weld metal oxygen content is directly related to the weld solidification time as well as the type of flux used.