R-134a (saturated liquid)
R-134a saturated liquid from −40 to 60 °C — the single-component HFC whose saturation table underpins most automotive and medium-temperature commercial refrigeration.
| Phase | Liquid — saturated state |
| Temperature range | -40 to 60 °C |
| Source | NIST REFPROP / ASHRAE Handbook—Fundamentals, Ch. 30, saturated liquid line |
Validated from -40 to 60 °C along the saturation curve.
| Density | 1,236.8 kg/m³ |
| Dynamic viscosity | 0.228 mPa·s |
| Specific heat | 1.405 kJ/(kg·K) |
| Thermal conductivity | 0.0858 W/(m·K) |
| Vapour pressure | 572.1 kPa |
| Latent heat of vaporisation | 182.3 kJ/kg |
| Kinematic viscosity ν = µ/ρ | 0.18435 mm²/s |
| Prandtl number Pr = cpµ/k | 3.734 |
Saturated state only. On the saturation curve temperature and pressure are locked together, so one input fixes everything — but sub-cooled liquid and superheated vapour need two, and these values do not describe them.
Every fluid property in these opens already filled, all from the same state — so a density and a viscosity in one calculation always describe the same fluid at the same temperature.
Reynolds Number
ρ = 1,236.8μ = 0.228
Poiseuille's Law
μ = 0.228
Learning zone
R-134a is a pure substance, which makes it the easy refrigerant: it boils and condenses at one temperature for a given pressure, with no glide, so evaporator and condenser saturation temperatures read straight off a gauge. It replaced R-12 after the Montreal Protocol and dominated automotive air conditioning and medium-temperature commercial refrigeration for thirty years.
The saturation pressures are the numbers to carry. At 0 °C it is 293 kPa absolute, about 28 psig; at 40 °C, a realistic condensing temperature on a hot day, it is 1017 kPa or about 133 psig. Those two figures bracket most of the operating envelope of a comfort-cooling system and are why R-134a equipment is built to modest pressures compared with R-410A.
Latent heat falls steadily from 226 kJ/kg at −40 °C to 139 at 60 °C, so a system pushed to a high condensing temperature moves less heat per kilogram circulated AND has to work harder to circulate it — the two effects that make head pressure the single most reported symptom of a dirty condenser.
Its global warming potential of 1430 has ended it: automotive has moved to R-1234yf and stationary equipment is moving to R-513A, R-450A and CO₂ under the Kigali phase-down. The table stays because there is an enormous installed base still being serviced.