IUPAC

The widely different data that have been reported for the viscosity and density of molten copper and tin will be critically reviewed via an interlaboratory comparison and recommended values will be proposed.

There is an increasing use of mathematical models to simulate a variety of processes involving liquid metals such as ‘‘cast to shape,’’ primary and secondary metal production, powder production by spray forming, and welding. Depending on what aspect of the process is modelled, a need for viscosity data for the relevant metals or their alloys exists.

Historically there are wide discrepancies in the viscosity data reported for the metallic elements and for alloys (Iida and Guthrie 1988) and in general reported values for viscosity can be up to an order of magnitude apart. Hence, only an internationally accepted committee can collect and critically evaluate such data.

In a previous IUPAC project standard reference correlations for the viscosity and density of aluminum and iron were proposed (Assael et al. 2006; project 2003-005-1-100). The proposed standard reference correlations for the density of the aluminum and iron are characterized by 0.65% and 0.77% percentage standard deviation, while the standard reference correlations for the viscosity are characterized by 13.7% and 5.7% percentage standard deviation, at the 95% confidence level, respectively.

The viscosity and density of aluminum covered a temperature range 930-1270 K and iron 1800-2100 K. The proposed study of copper and tin will cover the temperature ranges 1350-1700 K and 500-1050 K, respectively, and thus provide a complete temperature range for the viscosity and density from 500 to 2100 K for industrial application.

Refs
- Iida, T., and Guthrie, R.I.L., The Physical Properties of Liquid Metals, Clarendon, Oxford, 1988
- Assael M.J., Kakosimos K., Bannish M., Brillo J., Egry I., Brooks R., Quested P.N., Mills K.C., Nagashima A., Sato Y., and Wakeham W.A., “Reference Data for the Density and Viscosity of Liquid Aluminum and Liquid Iron”, Phys. Chem. Ref. Data  35:285-300 (2006) or see project 2003-005-1-100

> project announcement published in Chem. Int. Sept-Oct 2009

last update 20090918