Investigation on the Thermal Conductivity of Mineral Oil-Based Alumina/Aluminum Nitride Nanofluids.

Hanbin Wang,Liangping Shen,Dong Xiang

doi:10.3390/ma12244217

Hanbin Wang, Liangping Shen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12244217

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Abstract

Al2O3/AlN–mineral oil nanofluids were prepared by dispersing commercially available Al2O3 and AlN nanoparticles into mineral oil. SEM measurements showed that the average diameter of the Al2O3 and AlN nanoparticles was about 55 and 50 nm, respectively. The experiments showed that the thermal conductivity systematically improved as the Al2O3 and AlN nanoparticles were introduced into the mineral oil. The thermal conductivity of the mineral oil-based nanofluids increased by 18% with a 1% volume fraction of Al2O3 and increased by 7% with a 0.5% volume fraction of AlN. The experimental data were compared with the values that were predicted by four typical thermal conductivity models, and a large disparity was disclosed between the models and the experimental data. After considering the thermal dynamic factors in the Al2O3/AlN–mineral oil nanofluids, a universal model is proposed that agrees well with the variation of thermal conductivity of the nanofluids.

Highlights

Due to the growing power output of engines and the miniaturization of microelectronic devices and ultra-high voltage power equipment in industries, traditional heat transfer fluids like mineral oil, water, and ethylene cannot satisfy recent high thermal transfer demands
It has been demonstrated that a fluid that contains suspended metallic or non-metallic nanoparticles possesses higher thermal conductivity than base fluids; this fluid was termed “nanofluid” by Choi et al [1,2,3]
It is expected that dispersing nanosized Al2 O3 or AlN into base fluids may result in considerable enhancements to thermal conductivity [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

Summary

Introduction

Due to the growing power output of engines and the miniaturization of microelectronic devices and ultra-high voltage power equipment in industries, traditional heat transfer fluids like mineral oil, water, and ethylene cannot satisfy recent high thermal transfer demands. It is imminent to develop new fluids with better thermal conductivity than conventional ones Nanotechnology, such as micro- and nano-electronic technology and heat transfer enhancement, has rapidly developed and has been widely applied to industrial fields. It has been demonstrated that a fluid that contains suspended metallic or non-metallic nanoparticles possesses higher thermal conductivity than base fluids; this fluid was termed “nanofluid” by Choi et al [1,2,3]. Since their introduction, nanofluids have shown great potential in many industrial fields to many industrial fields, such as electronics, nuclear reactors coolants, the space industry, and refrigeration. Some studies have been performed on Al2 O3 and AlN nanoparticles that were dispersed in different hydrophilic fluids

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