ONE-FLUID THEORY OF LIQUID-VAPOR SURFACE-TENSION IN SIMPLE MULTICOMPONENT MIXTURES

We propose a theory of surface tension in multi-component mixtures of simple fluids far from critical conditions based on the one-fluid van der Waals approximation and statistical mechanical perturbation approa ch. The theory contains no adjustable parameters. By comparison with m olecular dynamics simulation of binary Lennard-Jones mixtures it is sh own that the theory provides a quantitative (within a tolerance of sim ilar to 15%-20%) description of surface tension. (C) 1998 American Ins titute of Physics.