Superheating Limit of Boiling n‐Hexane Spinodal Decomposition Versus Nucleation Process

Two predicative theories for superheating limits of a boiling liquid are considered in this work. In the nucleation picture, classical homogeneous nucleation theory is used to calculate superheating temperature at various pressures. In spinodal decomposition picture, stability limits are taken as the superheating temperature. A perturbed‐hard chain equation of state was developed and used for the purpose of calculating mechanical stability limit. Calculations are done for the case of normal hexane at different pressures and compared with experimental results. Classical nucleation theory gives good prediction at negative and smaller pressures. While near critical pressure, spinodal picture seems to be more accurate.