Coal ash fusion characterization and the ash fusion temperatures (AFTs) are important parameters for coal industry. Previous research has proved that the AFTs are correlated with the chemical composition of coal ash samples. In this paper, a five-component SiO2-Al2O3-CaO-Fe2O3-K2O system is set. The AFTs of 34 synthetic ashes were measured in a carbon atmosphere, and the trends of the AFTs analyzed. Different from other studies, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were combined to explore the relationships between the measured AFTs and the mineral composition, morphology and microstructure of ash samples. Furthermore, the effect of the element valence state is also taken into account and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) is used to analyze it firstly. The results show that the AFTs decrease with the increasing Fe2O3 content and silica-to-alumina (S/A) ratio. However, for the effect of CaO content, the AFTs reach a minimum value and then increase once again. Furthermore, the AFTs show no significant change as the K2O content varies. At last, all the conclusions found from the synthetic samples are also applicable for the seventeen bituminous coal ashes collected locally and abroad. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.