Surface tension of refrigerants: A new correlation using the boiling point as reference

•A new corresponding-states correlation model for surface tension is proposed.•The model includes the critical point and the boiling point as references.•Results are obtained for 80 refrigerants by using up-to-date database values.•A comparison is made with another four corresponding-states models.•The model gives deviations below 5% for 67 refrigerants.

A new general corresponding-states correlation model for the calculation of the surface tension of refrigerants is proposed. The main difference with respect to other models available in the literature is that, in addition to the critical point temperature, the proposed model includes the temperature and surface tension values at the boiling point as input properties to define the reduced (non-dimensional) properties. Only three general adjustable coefficients are needed, which were obtained by a fitting procedure to the data presently available for 80 refrigerants. Averaged absolute deviations below 9.5% are found in all cases, being below 5% for 67 out of the 80 fluids considered. Results for another four corresponding-states models available in the literature are also obtained. The correlation model proposed here gives clearly better overall results, and it is the only one including exclusively temperature and surface tension values as inputs.

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