Thermal conductivity of binary, ternary and quaternary mixtures of rare gases

The thermal conductivity data of the Ne-Ar, Ne-Kr, Ar-Xe and Kr-Xe systems are reported as a function of composition and at temperatures 40°, 65° and 90°c. Similar results are also presented for the ternary systems Kr-Ar-Ne, Xe-Kr-Ar and a quaternary system Xe-Kr-Ar-Ne. A conductivity cell of the thick hot-wire type is used. The thermal conductivity values for the binary mixtures are compared with those obtained from rigorous theory and such procedures as approximate, semi-theoretical, empirical, linear mixing, reciprocal mixing, combination of linear and reciprocal mixing and quadratic equations. A similar study is also made for ternary and quaternary mixtures and some interesting conclusions are drawn concerning the relative appropriateness of different methods for computing thermal conductivity of multi-component gas mixtures.