Investigation of Thermal Conductivity and Viscosity of Carbon Nanotubes–Ethylene Glycol Nanofluids

Conventional fluids used for heat transfer applications in automobiles limit the performance enhancement and compactness of the heat exchangers. These problems can be overcome by using the technology of nanofluids. The objectives of this work are to prepare nanofluids and to study their dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity. Chemically treated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were added with ethylene glycol (EG) and sonicated using a bath sonicator to have a homogeneous dispersion of CNTs in EG. In this study, the nanofluids were prepared with different concentrations of CNTs varying from 0.12 to 0.4 wt%. The dynamic viscosity of nanofluids was measured using a rheometer over a temperature range of 25°C to 60°C. It was observed that the viscosity of nanofluids decreases with an increase of temperature and enhances with CNT concentration. The nanofluid follows the characteristic behavior of Newtonian fluids. A linear rise in thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol was observed with an increase of CNT concentration. It is concluded that EG–CNT nanofluids are promising to meet the challenges required by automobile systems.     

The Interfacial Layer and the Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluid

Nanofluids are a class of colloidal dispersion of nanosized particles which are found to exhibit anomalous heat conducting properties compared to other conventional heat transfer fluids. Among various factors responsible for this anomaly, the role of nanolayer thickness is found to be quite important. This article includes its effect by suggesting a new exponential form for the profile of thermal conductivity in the interfacial layer. The effect of nanoparticle size, the volume fraction, and the ratio of thermal conductivity of the nanoparticle to the base fluid form part of the discussion. The presented scheme predicts well the enhancement of thermal conductivity of two nanofluids, alumina/EG and CuO/water, used as an example. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 43(3): 288–296, 2014; Published online 3 October 2013 in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21084     

A simple analytical model for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids

A simple mathematical model for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids has been developed based on the thermal resistance approach. The model is developed by considering both effects of a solid‐like nanolayer and convective heat transfer caused by Brownian motion which have not been considered simultaneously by most available models in the literature. In addition the correlation of Prasher and Phelan for the convective heat transfer coefficient is modified to take into account the effect of the solid‐like nanolayer. In addition a general value for n (different from the one presented by Tillman and Hill) is introduced to modify the thickness of the solid‐like nanolayer. The latter is done by considering both conduction and convection heat transfer mechanisms. Comparisons with previously published experimental results and other mathematical models show that the presented model could well predict a nanofluids effective thermal conductivity as a function of the nanoparticles mean diameter, volume fraction, and temperature for different kinds of nanofluids. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20290     

Thermal conductivity of non-Newtonian nanofluids: Experimental data and modeling using neural network

Three different types of nanofluids were prepared by dispersing γ-Al₂O₃, TiO₂ and CuO nanoparticles in a 0.5 wt% of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) aqueous solution. Thermal conductivity of the base fluid and nanofluids with various nanoparticle loadings at different temperatures were measured experimentally. Results show that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids is higher than the one of the base fluid and the increase in the thermal conductivity varies exponentially with the nanoparticle concentration. In addition to increase with the nanoparticle concentration, the thermal conductivity of nanofluids increases with the temperature. Neural network models were proposed to represent the thermal conductivity as a function of the temperature, nanoparticle concentration and the thermal conductivity of the nanoparticles. These models were in good agreement with the experimental data. On the other hand, the Hamilton Crosser model was only satisfactory for low nanoparticle concentrations.     

Interfacial suction effects of a porous layer on filmwise condensation heat transfer enhancement

Considering the liquid transverse suction effect at the porous layer interface, a mathematical model was presented to investigate the influence of the porous layer characteristic parameters on condensation heat transfer. The results revealed that the enhancement ratio increased with the increase of the porous layer thickness and permeability. The effective thermal conductivity of the porous layer was, however, of little significance for condensation heat transfer enhancement. Also, the enhancement mechanism was analyzed by comparing the thermal resistances within the external condensate film and the porous layer. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(7): 568–577, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10058     

Phase change characteristics of ethylene glycol solution‐based nanofluids for subzero thermal energy storage

Nanofluids, particularly water‐based nanofluids, have been extensively studied as liquid–solid phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES). In this study, nanofluids with aqueous ethylene glycol (EG) solution as the base fluid are proposed as a novel PCM for cold thermal energy storage. Nanofluids were prepared by dispersing 0.1–0.4 wt% TiO₂ nanoparticles into 12, 22, and 34 vol.% EG solutions. The dispersion stability of the nanofluids was evaluated by Turbiscan Lab. The liquid–solid phase change characteristics of the nanofluids were also investigated. Phase change temperature (PCT), nucleation temperature, and half freezing time (HFT) were investigated in freezing experiments. Subcooling degree and HFT reduction were then calculated. Latent heat of solidification was measured using differential scanning calorimetry. Thermal conductivity was determined using the hot disk thermal constant analyzer. Experimental results show that the nanoparticles decreased the PCT of 34 vol.% EG solution but minimally influenced the PCT of 12 and 22 vol.% EG solutions. For all nanofluids, the nanoparticles decreased the subcooling degree, HFT, and latent heat but increased the thermal conductivity of the EG solutions. The mechanism of the improvement of the phase change characteristics and decrease in latent heat by the nanoparticles was discussed. The nanoparticles simultaneously served as nucleating agent that induced crystal nucleation and as impurities that disturbed the growth of water crystals in EG solution‐based nanofluids. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced specific heat and thermal conductivity of ternary carbonate nanofluids with carbon nanotubes for solar power applications

Specific heat and thermal conductivity are important thermal properties of high-temperature heat transfer fluids and thermal storage materials for supercritical solar power plants. In the present work, nanofluids composed of ternary carbonate Li₂CO₃-K₂CO₃-Na₂CO₃ (4:4:2, mass ratio) and 1.0 wt.% carbon nanotubes (CNT) were prepared to obtain high-temperature heat transfer and storage media with enhanced specific heat and thermal conductivity. The dispersion of CNTs in the nanofluids was tuned by changing the evaporation temperature (100, 140, 180 and 220 °C) and adding surfactants such as sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), or gum Arabic (GA). The results showed that GA and SDS facilitate good dispersion of CNT in nanofluids at the evaporation temperatures of 140 °C and 180 °C, resulting in the formation of more needle-like nanostructures. The higher increase in the specific heat and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids with SDS at 500 °C was 78.3% and 149.2%, respectively. Additionally, the specific heat of as-prepared ternary carbonate nanofluids exhibits a good thermal stability after 30 cycles of thermal shock experiments.     

A renovated Hamilton–Crosser model for the effective thermal conductivity of CNTs nanofluids

Thermal conductivity models for nanotube based nanofluids are less common than those for nanofluids containing spherical nanoparticles In this paper, a renovated Hamilton–Crosser model for the effective thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based nanofluids is proposed by simulating an equivalent anisotropic nanoparticle. The thermal conductivity of the anisotropic nanoparticle is deduced by analyzing the heat conduction process of a single CNT with an interfacial layer in an arbitrary direction. The present model which contains the effect of CNTs' diameter and aspect ratio as well as the interfacial layer was analyzed and validated with other models and available experimental data. The results show that the present model exhibits a more moderate variety rate driven by the diameter and aspect ratio of CNTs. And this characteristic results in a better adaptability than other models when compared with some available experimental results.     

Effects of surface modification on the dispersion and thermal conductivity of CNT/water nanofluids

In the present work, effects of different surface modification methods (surfactant, acid, base, amide, sulfate) on multi walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are studied. The dispersion stability of CNTs in aqueous media was confirmed and the effects of the type of treatment on the thermal conductivity of CNT/water nanofluids were investigated. The surface of the CNTs was modified with acid mixtures (H₂SO₄–HNO₃), potassium persulfate (KPS), tetrahydrofuran (THF), octadecylamine and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). UV–visible spectral data indicate that the CNTs treated first with the acid mixture and then with KPS show the best dispersion stability. The basic treatment and SDS treated CNT/water nanofluids (SDS-KCNT/water) showed the highest conductivity of 0.765 W/mK which increases 24.9% of water as a base fluid conductor.     

Effect of CNT concentration and agitation on surface heat flux during quenching in CNT nanofluids

In this article, the effect of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) concentration and agitation on the heat transfer rate has been studied during immersion quenching in CNT nanofluids. For this purpose, CNT nanofluids were prepared by suspending chemically treated CNTs (TCNT) at four different concentrations in deionized (D.I) water without using any surfactant. Quench probes with a diameter of 20 mm and a length of 50 mm were machined from 304L stainless steel (SS) and quenched in water and CNT nanofluids with the CNT concentration ranging from 0.25 to 1.0 wt.%. The heat flux and temperature at the quenched surface were estimated based on the Inverse Heat Conduction (IHC) method using the temperature data recorded at 2 mm below the probe surface during quenching. The computation results showed that the peak heat flux increased with an increase in the CNT concentration up to 0.50 wt.% and started decreasing with further increase in the CNT concentration. The enhanced heat transfer performance of CNT nanofluids during quenching at lower concentration of CNTs is attributed to their higher effective thermal conductivity. The reduced heat transfer performance of CNT nanofluids having higher concentration of CNTs is due to the increased viscosity of CNT nanofluids. The effect of agitation on heat transfer rate during quenching has also been studied in this work by stirring the CNT nanofluid prepared with 0.50 wt.% of CNTs which recorded the maximum peak heat flux among the four concentrations. The effect of CNT nanofluid agitation was counter-intuitive and resulted in decreased heat transfer rate with the increase in agitation rate.     

An experimental study on the effect of ultrasonication on viscosity and heat transfer performance of multi-wall carbon nanotube-based aqueous nanofluids

Four samples of 1 wt% multi-walled carbon nanotube-based (MWCNT) aqueous nanofluids prepared via ultrasonication were thermally characterized. Direct imaging was done using a newly developed wet-TEM technique to assess the dispersion state of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in suspension. The effect of dispersing energy (ultrasonication) on viscosity, thermal conductivity, and the laminar convective heat transfer was studied. Results indicate that thermal conductivity and heat transfer enhancement increased until an optimum ultrasonication time was reached, and decreased on further ultrasonication. The suspensions exhibited a shear thinning behavior, which followed the Power Law viscosity model. The maximum enhancements in thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer were found to be 20% and 32%, respectively. The thermal conductivity enhancement increased considerably at temperatures greater than 24 °C. The enhancement in convective heat transfer was found to increase with axial distance. A number of mechanisms related to boundary layer thickness, micro-convective effect, particle rearrangement, possible induced convective effects due to temperature and viscosity variations in the radial direction, and the non-Newtonian nature of the samples are discussed.     

Experimental and theoretical studies of thermal conductivity,viscosity and heat transfer coefficient of titania and alumina nanofluids

Thermal conductivity, viscosity and heat transfer coefficient of water-based alumina and titania nanofluids have been investigated. The thermal conductivity of alumina nanofluids follow the prediction of Maxwell model, whilst that of titania nanofluids is slightly lower than model prediction because of high concentration of stabilisers. None of investigated nanofluids show anomalously high thermal conductivity enhancement frequently reported in literature. The viscosity of alumina and titania nanofluids was higher than the prediction of Einstein–Batchelor model due to aggregation. Heat transfer coefficients measured in nanofluids flowing through the straight pipes are in a very good agreement with heat transfer coefficients predicted from classical correlation developed for simple fluids. Experimental heat transfer coefficients in both nanofluids as well as corresponding wall temperatures agree within ±10% with the values obtained from numerical simulations employing homogeneous flow model with effective thermo-physical properties of nanofluids. These results clearly shows that titania and alumina nano-fluids do not show unusual enhancement of thermal conductivity nor heat transfer coefficients in pipe flow frequently reported in literature.     

Thermo-physical properties of water based SiC nanofluids for heat transfer applications

The aim of current paper consists in the fabrication, characterization and preparation of water based on SiC nanofluids and the experimental investigation of their thermo-physical properties. Thermal conductivity, viscosity and surface tension of SiC/water nanofluids were measured for two two weight concentrations of nanoparticles 0.5 and 1.0 wt% respectively, within the range 20 °C to 50 °C. Concerning the thermal-properties of studied nanofluids, the experimental results show that the thermal conductivity increases with the increasing both of the weight concentration of the nanoparticles and temperature. Also, the dynamic viscosity of the SiC/water nanofluids increases with increasing nanoparticles concentration and decreases with the increasing temperature. Furthermore, the surface tension of studied nanofluids increases with the increase of the weight concentrations of the nanoparticles, but the results show that at a concentration of the nanoparticles of 0.5 wt%, the surface tension was lower than the surface tension of the water, while at 1.0 wt% nanoparticles, the surface tension of the nanofluids was close to the surface tension of the water. Measurements were compared with experimental data available in literature and theoretical models. Finally, SiC/water nanofluids were used as working fluid inside of the two-phase closed thermosyphon in order to study of the heat transfer from point of view both of operating temperature and the nanoparticles concentration.     

十四烷纳米流体导热系数影响因素探究

十四烷是工业中最常用的液态烷烃之一,常被用于有机溶剂，有重要的应用价值。相比于纯烷烃，烷烃基纳米流体具有许多 优异的性质，特别是导热系数的增强。本文采用实验与理论模型对比的方法，对一些影响十四烷基纳米流体导热系数的因素进行研究，包括纳米颗粒种类、浓度、温度以及稳定性。结果表明，本文中纳米流体的有效导热系数随纳米颗粒体积分数的增加而增加，随温度的升高而下降；在各种纳米颗粒中，碳纳米管对导热的增强最为显著，且碳纳米管流体具有最好稳定性。     

Synthesis and thermal conductivity of Cu2O nanofluids

We apply the chemical solution method to synthesize Cu₂O nanofluids: suspensions of cuprous-oxide (Cu₂O) nanoparticles in water, and experimentally study the effect of reactant molar concentration and nanofluid temperature on the thermal conductivity. Substantial conductivity enhancement up to 24% is achievable with the synthesized nanofluids. The nanoparticle shape is variable by adjusting some synthesis parameters. The thermal conductivity shows both sensitivity and nonlinearity to the reactant molar concentration and the nanofluid temperature.     

Experimental investigation and development of new correlation for thermal conductivity and viscosity of BioGlycol/water based SiO2 nanofluids

Nanofluids are a new class of engineered heat transfer fluids which exhibit superior thermophysical properties and have potential applications in numerous important fields. In this study, nanofluids have been prepared by dispersing SiO₂ nanoparticles in different base fluids such as 20:80% and 30:70% by volume of BioGlycol (BG)/water (W) mixtures. Thermal conductivity and viscosity experiments have been conducted in temperatures between 30 °C and 80 °C and in volume concentrations between 0.5% and 2.0%. Results show that thermal conductivity of nanofluids increases with increase of volume concentrations and temperatures. Similarly, viscosity of nanofluid increases with increase of volume concentrations but decreases with increase of temperatures. The maximum thermal conductivity enhancement among all the nanofluids was observed for 20:80% BG/W nanofluid about 7.2% in the volume concentration of 2.0% at a temperature of 70 °C. Correspondingly among all the nanofluids maximum viscosity enhancement was observed for 30:70% BG/W nanofluid about 1.38-times in the volume concentration of 2.0% at a temperature of 70 °C. The classical models and semi-empirical correlations failed to predict the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids with effect of volume concentration and temperatures. Therefore, nonlinear correlations have been proposed with 3% maximum deviation for the estimation of thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids.     

Determination of temperature distribution for annular fins with temperature‐dependent thermal conductivity

In this paper, homotopy analysis method (HAM) has been used to evaluate the temperature distribution of annular fin with temperature‐dependent thermal conductivity and to determine the temperature distribution within the fin. This method is useful and practical for solving the nonlinear heat transfer equation, which is associated with variable thermal conductivity condition. HAM provides an approximate analytical solution in the form of an infinite power series. The annular fin heat transfer rate with temperature‐dependent thermal conductivity has been obtained as a function of thermo‐geometric fin parameter and the thermal conductivity parameter describing the variation of the thermal conductivity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20353     

Experimental determination of thermal conductivity of three nanofluids and development of new correlations

Experimental investigations have been carried out for determining the thermal conductivity of three nanofluids containing aluminum oxide, copper oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles dispersed in a base fluid of 60:40 (by mass) ethylene glycol and water mixture. Particle volumetric concentration tested was up to 10% and the temperature range of the experiments was from 298 to 363 K. The results show an increase in the thermal conductivity of nanofluids compared to the base fluids with an increasing volumetric concentration of nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity also increases substantially with an increase in temperature. Several existing models for thermal conductivity were compared with the experimental data obtained from these nanofluids, and they do not exhibit good agreement. Therefore, a model was developed, which is a refinement of an existing model, which incorporates the classical Maxwell model and the Brownian motion effect to account for the thermal conductivity of nanofluids as a function of temperature, particle volumetric concentration, the properties of nanoparticles, and the base fluid, which agrees well with the experimental data.     

Experimental study of Fe2O3/water and Fe2O3/ethylene glycol nanofluid heat transfer enhancement in a shell and tube heat exchanger

Heat transfer characteristics of Fe₂O₃/water and Fe₂O₃/EG nanofluids were measured in a shell and tube heat exchanger under laminar to turbulent flow condition. In the shell and tube heat exchanger, water and ethylene glycol-based Fe₂O₃ nanofluids with 0.02%, 0.04%, 0.06% and 0.08% volume fractions were used as working fluids for different flow rates of nanofluids. The effects of Reynold's number, volume concentration of suspended nanoparticles and different base fluids on the heat transfer characteristics were investigated. Based on the results, adding nanoparticles to the base fluid causes a significant enhancement of the heat transfer characteristics and thermal conductivity. This enhancement was investigated with regard to various factors; concentration of nanoparticles, types of base fluids, sonication time and temperature of fluids. In this paper, the effect of Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity of base fluids like ethylene glycol and water was studied. The thermal conductivity measurement was made for different concentrations and temperatures. As the concentration of the nanoparticles increased, there was a significant enhancement in thermal conductivity and overall heat transfer due to more interaction between particles. It was also observed that there was an improvement in the thermal conductivity of the base fluid as the temperature increased. The measurements also showed that the pressure drop of nanofluid was higher than that of the base fluid in a turbulent flow regime. However, there was no significant increase in pressure drop at laminar flow.     

Thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids in conjunction with electrical double layer (EDL)

A novel expression for the thermal conductivity of nanofluids is proposed, which incorporates the kinetic theory to describe the contribution of the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles with a more realistic definition of the mean free path, and additionally to consider the contribution of the interparticle interaction due to the existence of the electrical double layer (EDL). It is shown that this model is applied to Au/water nanofluids satisfactorily with respect to temperature, volume fraction and particle size. In the case of dense Al₂O₃/water nanofluids, the effect of the interparticle interaction due to EDL on enhancing the thermal conductivity is more prominent than in the case of dilute Al₂O₃/water nanofluids. The model proposed in this paper shows that interparticle interaction due to EDL is the most responsible for the enhancement of thermal conductivity of nanofluids.