Experimental and theoretical investigation of thermal conductivity of some water-based nanofluids

Modified transient plane source method has been applied for thermal conductivity measurements of three water-based nanofluids containing Al₂O₃, TiO₂, and graphene nanoparticles. Experiments were conducted at different temperatures and concentrations. The effects of sort of nanoparticles, concentration, and diameter of nanoparticles as well as temperature were studied by comparing the experimental results with the predictions of ten preceding models. The overall performances of these models were compared in terms of percent error. Percent errors were observed in the current study ranging from vicinity of zero up to nearly 110% that belonged to Bruggeman model in predicting the thermal conductivity ratio of graphene/water nanofluids. All ten models performed acceptably in calculating thermal conductivity ratio of Al₂O₃ nanofluids with the maximum percent error of 2.16%. Four correlations are proposed based on the experimental results of this work three of which are special to each nanofluid and the fourth one is overall. These models succeeded to predict the thermal conductivity ratio of the studied nanofluids with considerably lower percent errors which was maximum 5.19% observed in predicting the thermal conductivity ratio of graphene/water nanofluid.     

Preparation and properties of copper-oil-based nanofluids

In this study, the lipophilic Cu nanoparticles were synthesized by surface modification method to improve their dispersion stability in hydrophobic organic media. The oil-based nanofluids were prepared with the lipophilic Cu nanoparticles. The transport properties, viscosity, and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids have been measured. The viscosities and thermal conductivities of the nanofluids with the surface-modified nanoparticles have higher values than the base fluids do. The composition has more significant effects on the thermal conductivity than on the viscosity. It is valuable to prepare an appropriate oil-based nanofluid for enhancing the heat-transfer capacity of a hydrophobic system. The effects of adding Cu nanoparticles on the thermal oxidation stability of the fluids were investigated by measuring the hydroperoxide concentration in the Cu/kerosene nanofluids. The hydroperoxide concentrations are observed to be clearly lower in the Cu nanofluids than in their base fluids. Appropriate amounts of metal nanoparticles added in a hydrocarbon fuel can enhance the thermal oxidation stability.     

Stability and thermal conductivity of nanofluids of tin dioxide synthesized via microwave-induced combustion route

SnO₂ nanofluids were prepared by dispersing tin dioxide nanoparticles in deionized (DI) water as a base fluid. 4–5 nm tin dioxide crystals were synthesized via chloride solution combustion synthesis (CSCS) using SnCl₄ and sorbitol as a novel precursor and the fuel, respectively. Ammonium nitrate was also used as the combustion aid. The molar ratio of sorbitol plus ammonium nitrate to SnCl₄ was set at unity; whereas, the molar ratio of sorbitol-to-ammonium nitrate divided by that of stoichiometric value (Φ) was varied in the range of 0.5–1.4 in order to find the optimum values of specific surface area for the CSCS technique. Transition electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) techniques were employed for the characterization of the nanoparticles. Since SnO₂ nanoparticles form clusters within fluids, the fluids were ultrasonicated to improve the dispersion and stability of the nanoparticles. The colloidal stability of the SnO₂ nanofluids was quantitatively characterized by UV–vis spectrophotometric measurements. The results of the UV–vis experiments indicate higher dispersion together with enhanced stability for the nanofluid prepared by SnO₂ nanoparticles synthesized at Φ = 1.0. After 500 h sedimentation time, the relative concentration of the nanofluid with the highest stability is remained at around 77% of the initial concentration of the fluid.A transient hot-wire apparatus was used to measure the thermal conductivities of the nanofluids. In addition, the effects of pH and temperature on the thermal conductivity were also investigated. At 353 K, for the nanofluid prepared by SnO₂ nanoparticles synthesized at Φ = 1.0 at a weight fraction of 0.024%, thermal conductivity is enhanced up to about 8.7%, with an optimal pH = 8.     

Effect of alumina nanoparticles in the fluid on heat transfer in double-pipe heat exchanger system

This study was performed to investigate the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids made of several alumina nanoparticles and transformer oil which flow through a double pipe heat exchanger system in the laminar flow regime. The nanofluids exhibited a considerable increase of heat transfer coefficients. Although the thermal conductivity of alumina is not high, it is much higher than that of the base fluids. The nanofluids tested displayed good thermal properties. One of the possible reasons for the enhancement on heat transfer of nanofluids can be explained by the high concentration of nanoparticles in the thermal boundary layer at the wall side through the migration of nanoparticles. To understand the enhancement of heat transfer of nanofluid, an experimental correlation was proposed for an alumina-transformer oil nanofluid system.     

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticle on rheological behavior of poly(vinyl alcohol) solution

In recent years, addition of nanoparticles to fluids and polymers has been used as a way of modifying rheological properties. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles aqueous composite nanofluids were prepared through the use of ultrasonic vibration. In fact, ultrasonic vibration is an advantageous method for nanoparticle dispersion. The preparation method prevents reduction of the polymer's molecular weight. TiO₂ nanoparticles with different concentrations were employed to investigate the rheological characteristics of composite nanofluids. Rheological characteristics of base fluids and composite nanofluids were measured at different temperatures. Based on the results, all composite nanofluids, as well as base fluids, exhibited non‐Newtonian behavior and rheological characteristics of composite nanofluids, following the Herschel‐Bulkley model. In addition, model parameters are functions of temperature, PVA, and TiO₂ nanoparticle concentrations. Also, two‐way interactions among temperature, PVA, and TiO₂ nanoparticle concentrations affect flow index and consistency index of the Herschel‐Bulkley model. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 23:234–240, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Ultrasonication effects on thermal and rheological properties of carbon nanotube suspensions

The preparation of nanofluids is very important to their thermophysical properties. Nanofluids with the same nanoparticles and base fluids can behave differently due to different nanofluid preparation methods. The agglomerate sizes in nanofluids can significantly impact the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids and lead to a different heat transfer performance. Ultrasonication is a common way to break up agglomerates and promote dispersion of nanoparticles into base fluids. However, research reports of sonication effects on nanofluid properties are limited in the open literature. In this work, sonication effects on thermal conductivity and viscosity of carbon nanotubes (0.5 wt%) in an ethylene glycol-based nanofluid are investigated. The corresponding effects on the agglomerate sizes and the carbon nanotube lengths are observed. It is found that with an increased sonication time/energy, the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids increases nonlinearly, with the maximum enhancement of 23% at sonication time of 1,355 min. However, the viscosity of nanofluids increases to the maximum at sonication time of 40 min, then decreases, finally approaching the viscosity of the pure base fluid at a sonication time of 1,355 min. It is also observed that the sonication process not only reduces the agglomerate sizes but also decreases the length of carbon nanotubes. Over the current experimental range, the reduction in agglomerate size is more significant than the reduction of the carbon nanotube length. Hence, the maximum thermal conductivity enhancement and minimum viscosity increase are obtained using a lengthy sonication, which may have implications on application.     

Nanofluid optical property characterization: towards efficient direct absorption solar collectors

Suspensions of nanoparticles (i.e., particles with diameters < 100 nm) in liquids, termed nanofluids, show remarkable thermal and optical property changes from the base liquid at low particle loadings. Recent studies also indicate that selected nanofluids may improve the efficiency of direct absorption solar thermal collectors. To determine the effectiveness of nanofluids in solar applications, their ability to convert light energy to thermal energy must be known. That is, their absorption of the solar spectrum must be established. Accordingly, this study compares model predictions to spectroscopic measurements of extinction coefficients over wavelengths that are important for solar energy (0.25 to 2.5 μm). A simple addition of the base fluid and nanoparticle extinction coefficients is applied as an approximation of the effective nanofluid extinction coefficient. Comparisons with measured extinction coefficients reveal that the approximation works well with water-based nanofluids containing graphite nanoparticles but less well with metallic nanoparticles and/or oil-based fluids. For the materials used in this study, over 95% of incoming sunlight can be absorbed (in a nanofluid thickness ≥10 cm) with extremely low nanoparticle volume fractions - less than 1 × 10^-5, or 10 parts per million. Thus, nanofluids could be used to absorb sunlight with a negligible amount of viscosity and/or density (read: pumping power) increase.     

Discussion on the thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids

Increasing interests have been paid to nanofluids because of the intriguing heat transfer enhancement performances presented by this kind of promising heat transfer media. We produced a series of nanofluids and measured their thermal conductivities. In this article, we discussed the measurements and the enhancements of the thermal conductivity of a variety of nanofluids. The base fluids used included those that are most employed heat transfer fluids, such as deionized water (DW), ethylene glycol (EG), glycerol, silicone oil, and the binary mixture of DW and EG. Various nanoparticles (NPs) involving Al₂O₃ NPs with different sizes, SiC NPs with different shapes, MgO NPs, ZnO NPs, SiO₂ NPs, Fe₃O₄ NPs, TiO₂ NPs, diamond NPs, and carbon nanotubes with different pretreatments were used as additives. Our findings demonstrated that the thermal conductivity enhancements of nanofluids could be influenced by multi-faceted factors including the volume fraction of the dispersed NPs, the tested temperature, the thermal conductivity of the base fluid, the size of the dispersed NPs, the pretreatment process, and the additives of the fluids. The thermal transport mechanisms in nanofluids were further discussed, and the promising approaches for optimizing the thermal conductivity of nanofluids have been proposed.     

Al2O3-based nanofluids: a review

Ultrahigh performance cooling is one of the important needs of many industries. However, low thermal conductivity is a primary limitation in developing energy-efficient heat transfer fluids that are required for cooling purposes. Nanofluids are engineered by suspending nanoparticles with average sizes below 100 nm in heat transfer fluids such as water, oil, diesel, ethylene glycol, etc. Innovative heat transfer fluids are produced by suspending metallic or nonmetallic nanometer-sized solid particles. Experiments have shown that nanofluids have substantial higher thermal conductivities compared to the base fluids. These suspended nanoparticles can change the transport and thermal properties of the base fluid. As can be seen from the literature, extensive research has been carried out in alumina-water and CuO-water systems besides few reports in Cu-water-, TiO₂-, zirconia-, diamond-, SiC-, Fe₃O₄-, Ag-, Au-, and CNT-based systems. The aim of this review is to summarize recent developments in research on the stability of nanofluids, enhancement of thermal conductivities, viscosity, and heat transfer characteristics of alumina (Al₂O₃)-based nanofluids. The Al₂O₃ nanoparticles varied in the range of 13 to 302 nm to prepare nanofluids, and the observed enhancement in the thermal conductivity is 2% to 36%.     

Thermophysical property evaluation of β-cyclodextrin modified ZrO2 nanofluids for microchannel heat exchange

Microchannel technology is an effective method to solve the heat transfer of microelectronics. Nanofluids are considered to have great application potential in microchannel heat exchangers. In this experiment, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was used to modify ZrO₂ nanoparticles. The morphology, functional group, and crystal structure of the nanoparticles before and after modification were studied. Ethylene glycol aqueous solution-based nanofluids were prepared using a two-step method. Its physical properties were studied. The modified nanofluid has better stability. The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid was measured and the mathematical model was analyzed. The results showed that the nanofluid with a concentration of 0.10 vol% was 37.82% higher than the base fluid at 60 °C. The results of the mathematical analysis indicate that the fabrication of nanofluids using β-cyclodextrin-modified ZrO₂ has great potential for application in heat transfer in microelectronic microchannels.     

Laminar heat transfer of non-Newtonian nanofluids in a circular tube

Forced convection heat transfer behavior of three different types of nanofluids flowing through a uniformly heated horizontal tube under laminar regime has been investigated experimentally. Nanofluids were made by dispersion of γ-Al₂O₃, CuO, and TiO₂ nanoparticles in an aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). All nanofluids as well as the base fluid exhibit shear-thinning behavior. Results of heat transfer experiments indicate that both average and the local heat transfer coefficients of nanofluids are larger than that of the base fluid. The enhancement of heat transfer coefficient increases by increasing nanoparticle loading. At a given Peclet number and nanoparticle concentration the local heat transfer coefficient decreases by axial distance from the test section inlet. It seems that the thermal entry length of nanofluids is greater than the base fluid and becomes longer as nanoparticle concentration increases.     

Enhancements of thermal conductivities with Cu,CuO, and carbon nanotube nanofluids and application of MWNT/water nanofluid on a water chiller system

In this study, enhancements of thermal conductivities of ethylene glycol, water, and synthetic engine oil in the presence of copper (Cu), copper oxide (CuO), and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) are investigated using both physical mixing method (two-step method) and chemical reduction method (one-step method). The chemical reduction method is, however, used only for nanofluid containing Cu nanoparticle in water. The thermal conductivities of the nanofluids are measured by a modified transient hot wire method. Experimental results show that nanofluids with low concentration of Cu, CuO, or carbon nanotube (CNT) have considerably higher thermal conductivity than identical base liquids. For CuO-ethylene glycol suspensions at 5 vol.%, MWNT-ethylene glycol at 1 vol.%, MWNT-water at 1.5 vol.%, and MWNT-synthetic engine oil at 2 vol.%, thermal conductivity is enhanced by 22.4, 12.4, 17, and 30%, respectively. For Cu-water at 0.1 vol.%, thermal conductivity is increased by 23.8%. The thermal conductivity improvement for CuO and CNT nanofluids is approximately linear with the volume fraction. On the other hand, a strong dependence of thermal conductivity on the measured time is observed for Cu-water nanofluid. The system performance of a 10-RT water chiller (air conditioner) subject to MWNT/water nanofluid is experimentally investigated. The system is tested at the standard water chiller rating condition in the range of the flow rate from 60 to 140 L/min. In spite of the static measurement of thermal conductivity of nanofluid shows only 1.3% increase at room temperature relative to the base fluid at volume fraction of 0.001 (0.1 vol.%), it is observed that a 4.2% increase of cooling capacity and a small decrease of power consumption about 0.8% occur for the nanofluid system at a flow rate of 100 L/min. This result clearly indicates that the enhancement of cooling capacity is not just related to thermal conductivity alone. Dynamic effect, such as nanoparticle dispersion may effectively augment the system performance. It is also found that the dynamic dispersion is comparatively effective at lower flow rate regime, e.g., transition or laminar flow and becomes less effective at higher flow rate regime. Test results show that the coefficient of performance of the water chiller is increased by 5.15% relative to that without nanofluid.     

Development of ethylene glycol-Cr2AlC nanofluid for thermal management in the automotive sector

The current study is focused on the development of a novel nanofluid for efficient thermal management in the automotive sector. For this, novel Cr₂AlC-based nanofluids were prepared and its properties were compared with conventional nanofluids prepared under similar condition. h-BN, MoS₂, Al₂O₃, and Cr₂AlC powders of <60 nm were prepared by high energy ball mill and were added into the EG fluid in 0.25 and 0.50 wt%. The nanofluids were investigated for viscosity, flash point, fire point, thermal conductivity, stability, and freezing temperature. The flash and fire points of EG increase with the addition of nanocrystalline powders. The viscosity of nanofluids decreases and thermal conductivity increases with increase in temperature. Among all addition, nanofluid containing 0.50 wt% of Cr₂AlC shows maximum enhancement in the thermal conductivity and freezing temperature by 57.91% and 42.15%, respectively. It also shows a good stability up to 20 days.     

An Investigation on the Thermal Effusivity of Nanofluids Containing Al(2)O(3) and CuO Nanoparticles

The thermal effusivity of Al(2)O(3) and CuO nanofluids in different base fluids, i.e., deionized water, ethylene glycol and olive oil were investigated. The nanofluids, nanoparticles dispersed in base fluids; were prepared by mixing Al(2)O(3), CuO nanopowder and the base fluids using sonication with high-powered pulses to ensure a good uniform dispersion of nanoparticles in the base fluids. The morphology of the particles in the base fluids was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this study, a phase frequency scan of the front pyroelectric configuration technique, with a thermally thick PVDF pyroelectric sensor and sample, was used to measure the thermal effusivity of the prepared nanofluids. The experimental results of the thermal effusivity of the studied solvents (deionized water, ethylene glycol and olive oil) showed good agreement with literature values, and were reduced in the presence of nanoparticles. The thermal effusivity of the nanofluid was found to be particularly sensitive to its base fluid and the type of nanoparticles.     

Investigation of thermal conductivity and rheological properties of nanofluids containing graphene nanoplatelets

In the present study, stable homogeneous graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) nanofluids were prepared without any surfactant by high-power ultrasonic (probe) dispersion of GNPs in distilled water. The concentrations of nanofluids were maintained at 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1 wt.% for three different specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m²/g. Transmission electron microscopy image shows that the suspensions are homogeneous and most of the materials have been well dispersed. The stability of nanofluid was investigated using a UV-visible spectrophotometer in a time span of 600 h, and zeta potential after dispersion had been investigated to elucidate its role on dispersion characteristics. The rheological properties of GNP nanofluids approach Newtonian and non-Newtonian behaviors where viscosity decreases linearly with the rise of temperature. The thermal conductivity results show that the dispersed nanoparticles can always enhance the thermal conductivity of the base fluid, and the highest enhancement was obtained to be 27.64% in the concentration of 0.1 wt.% of GNPs with a specific surface area of 750 m²/g. Electrical conductivity of the GNP nanofluids shows a significant enhancement by dispersion of GNPs in distilled water. This novel type of nanofluids shows outstanding potential for replacements as advanced heat transfer fluids in medium temperature applications including solar collectors and heat exchanger systems.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of alumina-water nanofluid in a square cavity

A lattice Boltzmann model is developed by coupling the density (D2Q9) and the temperature distribution functions with 9-speed to simulate the convection heat transfer utilizing Al₂O₃-water nanofluids in a square cavity. This model is validated by comparing numerical simulation and experimental results over a wide range of Rayleigh numbers. Numerical results show a satisfactory agreement between them. The effects of Rayleigh number and nanoparticle volume fraction on natural convection heat transfer of nanofluid are investigated in this study. Numerical results indicate that the flow and heat transfer characteristics of Al₂O₃-water nanofluid in the square cavity are more sensitive to viscosity than to thermal conductivity.     

Performance evaluation of whisker-reinforced ceramic tools under nano-sized solid lubricants assisted MQL turning of Co-based Haynes 25 superalloy

Ceramics are widely used in machining of high temperature alloys i.e., Co-based Haynes 25 alloy due to its superior characteristics. The present paper is focused on the performance of whisker-reinforced ceramic cutting tool (WRCCT) under nano-sized solid lubricants dispersed in MQL (nanofluid-MQL) during turning of Co-based Haynes 25 alloy. The turning experiments were performed under several cutting environments (dry, base fluid MQL (BF-MQL), hBN based nanofluid MQL (hBN-NMQL), MoS₂ based nanofluid MQL (MoS₂-NMQL), graphite based nanofluid MQL Gr-NMQL) by varying cutting speed (200 and 300 m/min) and feed rate (0.1 and 0.15 mm/rev) values. Initially, the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids were evaluated and then the prepared nanofluids were used for machining experiments. The results reveal that the rate of increase in thermal conductivity coefficient relative to base cutting fluid was 11.90% in hBN-nanofluid, 16.29% in MoS₂-nanofluid and 14.12% in Gr-nanofluid. In terms of machining performance, on the one hand, the minimum surface roughness was obtained from Gr-NMQL assisted machining, on the other hand, the hBN-NMQL has been successful in limiting of notch wear and nose wear values. Compared to dry turning, the temperature was reduced up to 27.18% with hBN doped nanofluids, while it was 34.95% with MoS₂ doped nanofluids and 29.32% with graphene doped nanofluids.     

纳米流体热导率的测量

运用瞬态热线法测定了不同种类、不同体积份额配比的纳米流体的热导率,分析了纳米粒子属性、份额、尺度等因素对纳米流体热导率的影响.实验结果表明,在液体中添加纳米粒子显著增加了液体的热导率.通过对实验结果进行分析,提出了计算纳米流体热导率的关联式.     

Nanoparticles for convective heat transfer enhancement: heat transfer coefficient and the effects of particle size and zeta potential

This work presents a study of using the Wilson Plot method to determine the convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) of the following nanoparticles in water as the base fluid: SiO₂, TiO₂, and Al₂O₃. The experiments were carried out in a double layer concentric glass tube in which the hot fluid and nanofluids exchange heat in a counter current fashion without direct contact. Attention was also given to the volumetric concentration, flow rate, and the size of nanoparticles to investigate their effects on CHTC. From the experiments, it was found that by adding nanoparticles, the CHTC of water can generally be enhanced and a 45% increase has been achieved with a 0.5?vol% concentration of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles at an intermediate Reynolds number around 4100. Moreover, simply reducing nanoparticle size and increasing the nanofluid flow rate do not necessarily lead to the CHTC enhancement, rather, they have adverse effects. It is concluded that the enhancement depends on the stability of the dispersed nanoparticles that can be characterized by their overall mean size and zeta potential as useful measures.     

Nanofluids for heat transfer: an engineering approach

An overview of systematic studies that address the complexity of nanofluid systems and advance the understanding of nanoscale contributions to viscosity, thermal conductivity, and cooling efficiency of nanofluids is presented. A nanoparticle suspension is considered as a three-phase system including the solid phase (nanoparticles), the liquid phase (fluid media), and the interfacial phase, which contributes significantly to the system properties because of its extremely high surface-to-volume ratio in nanofluids. The systems engineering approach was applied to nanofluid design resulting in a detailed assessment of various parameters in the multivariable nanofluid systems. The relative importance of nanofluid parameters for heat transfer evaluated in this article allows engineering nanofluids with desired set of properties.