Abstract
A new class of heat transfer fluids, termed nanofluids, has been developed by suspending nanocrystalline particles in liquids. Due to the orders-of-magnitude larger thermal conductivities of solids compared to those of liquids such as water, significantly enhanced thermal properties are obtained with nanofluids. For example, an approximately 20% improvement in effective thermal conductivity is observed when 5 vol.% CuO nanoparticles are added to water. Even more importantly, the heat transfer coefficient of water under dynamic flow conditions is increased more than 15% with the addition of less than 1 vol.% CuO particles. The use of nanofluids could impact many industrial sectors, including transportation, energy supply and production, electronics, textiles, and paper production by, for example, decreasing pumping power needs or reducing heat exchanger sizes. In contrast to the enhancement in effective thermal transport rates that is obtained when nanoparticles are suspended in fluids, nanocrystalline coatings are expected to exhibit reduced thermal conductivities compared to coarse-grained coatings. Reduced thermal conductivities are predicted to arise because of a reduction in the mean free path of phonons due to presence of grain boundaries. This behavior, combined with improved mechanical properties, makes nanostructured zirconia coatings excellent candidates for future applications as thermal barriers. Yttria-stabilizedmore » zirconia (YSZ) thin films are being produced by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition techniques. Preliminary results have indicated that the thermal conductivity is reduced by approximately a factor-of-two at room temperature in 10 nm grain-sized YSZ compared to coarse-grained or single crystal YSZ.« less
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