Phase and viscosity behaviour of refrigerant-lubricant mixtures

The understanding of thermophysical properties and phase behaviour of refrigerant-lubricant oil mixtures is highly important for the optimal design of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. Refrigerant lubricant mixtures, which are likely to have strong asymmetry, can show complex phase behaviour such as closed miscibility gaps, open miscibility gaps, liquid-liquid-vapour equilibrium, and even barotropic phenomena (density inversions). In fact, the type of phase behaviour that refrigerant-lubricant mixtures may show is linked to the transition between different types of phase diagrams, mainly as a function of the molecular asymmetry. This also has a profound effect in the mixture transport properties. Thus, in this work the general aspects of phase and viscosity behaviour linked to the type of asymmetry found in refrigerant-lubricant mixtures are discussed in the context of phase behaviour phenomenology. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.