Erosion-corrosion effect of nanocoolant on actual car water pump

Abstract

In automobile cooling system, water and ethylene glycol are usually used as coolant. For many years, nanofluid has been reported to enhance thermal properties of conventional heat transfer fluid due to dispersion of solid particles which exhibit superior thermal conductivity. Many past researchers found improvement of heat transfer rate in automobile cooling system by using nanofluid as coolant. However, there are very few reported on drawback such as tribological impact on components in automobile cooling system. Hence, this paper focused to determine erosion-corrosion effect of nanofluid on aluminium impeller in Perodua Kancil D37 water pump. Working parameters such as inlet pressure, coolant temperature and rpm of pump were in line with ASTM D2809-09 standard. Testing coolants were made up of corrosive water, ethylene glycol and graphene nanoplatelets. Each pump surface profile was inspected using 3D imaging microscope after undergoing 100 hours of testing continuously. Also, precise weight measurement was carried out before and after testing to determine total material loss. It was observed that corrosion effect was about the same for both base coolant and nanocoolant. Erosion-corrosion effect increased material loss when nanocoolant was used instead of base coolant. Based on ASTM 2809-09 standard, erosion-corrosion damage on impeller was found to be minimal and scored high rating in evaluation. Thus, both coolants can be considered to be incorporated in future cooling system.