Effects of Nano Copper Additive on Thermal Conductivity of Magnetorheological Fluid at Different Environment Temperature

Abstract

Low thermal conductivity of magnetorheological (MR) fluid limits its potential to be applied in high temperature environment. Recently, enhancing thermal conductivity of similar fluids through addition of nanocopper has attracted to address the problem. This paper presents the effects of nanocopper addition on thermal conductivity properties of MR fluid at different environment temperatures. The nanocopper added MR fluid samples were synthesized with carbonyl iron powder in hydraulic oil. The samples were then stabilized with addition of fumed silica and were homogenized using ultrasonic bath. Thermal conductivity of the samples and references material was measured using thermal property analyser. The environment temperature of the samples was controlled by waterbath incubation method. The results showed that enhancement of thermal conductivity with the presence of copper nanoparticles was higher at 40 vol% of CIP compared to 20 vol% of CIP and a slight variation in thermal conductivity of MR fluid was observed in environment temperatures of 30–70°C. This finding leads to development of new class of magnetorheological fluid with enhanced thermal properties.