Reference Correlation of the Thermal Conductivity of Sulfur Hexafluoride from the Triple Point to 1000 K and up to 150 MPa

This paper contains new, representative reference equations for the thermal conductivity of SF₆. The equations are based in part upon a body of experimental data that has been critically assessed for internal consistency and for agreement with theory whenever possible. Although there are a sufficiently large number of data at intermediate temperatures, data at very low or very high temperatures as well as near the critical region are scarce. In the case of the dilute-gas thermal conductivity, a theoretically based correlation was adopted in order to extend the temperature range of the experimental data. Moreover, in the critical region, the experimentally observed enhancement of the thermal conductivity is well represented by theoretically based equations containing just one adjustable parameter. The correlations are applicable for the temperature range from the triple point to 1000 K and pressures up to 150 MPa. The overall uncertainty (considered to be estimates of a combined expanded uncertainty with a coverage factor of two) of the proposed correlation is estimated, for pressures less than 150 MPa and temperatures less than 1000 K, to be less than 4%.