Viscosity Measurements of Pure Liquid Metals by the Capillary Method

Abstract

By use of the capillary method, viscosities of pure liquid metals, i.e., Ga, In, Sn, Bi, Pb, Cd, Zn, Sb, Ag, Cu, have been measured from thier melting points to about 1100°C, with an accuracy of about ±0.5%.The present experimental results are roughly in agreement with values calculated from Andrade’s equation for viscosities at the melting points. The temperature dependence of measured viscosities of these metals can be represented approximately by a simple exponential formula of the Arrhenius type over only a small temperature range, but this is not always the case over a wide temperature range.It has also been shown that for these metals simple empirical relationships exist between the apparent activation energy of viscosity and the melting point.The temperature dependence of viscosities of liquid metals was possible to be divided into two groups, normal metals and semi-metals, in the vicinity of the melting point.It seems that this classification can be related to differences in structure factors of these two groups of liquid metals.