The Law of Corresponding States and Surface Tension of Liquid Metals

Empirical relationships for the surface tension of liquid metals (LM) are shown to follow from the principle of corresponding states. In order to relate the surface tension of LM to its bulk properties, a formula is derived by scaling with the melting point T_m(0) at the atmospheric pressure, p = 0 and the atomic volume _m(0) at the melting point as macroscopic parameters for scaling and a characterizing the interatomic potential (r)=*(r/a). Correlation rules, derived for the surface tension and its temperature coefficient, are discussed and compared with experimental data.