Rheological profile of graphene-based nanofluids in thermal oil with hybrid additives of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers

Abstract

The evolution in nanofluid technology in the last few decades has proved the prodigious potential in several applications, especially thermal management and lubrication. An extensive investigation of nanofluid's rheological profile is vital to characterize the fluid flow behavior. This study signifies the rheological aspects of graphene and its hybrid nano-dispersions in thermal oil. The experimental investigation involves three sets of nanofluids containing graphene, graphene-carbon nanotubes, and graphene-carbon nanofiber hybrid nanofluid dispersions in thermal oil with varying loadings (0–2 mass%). The flow behaviors of all sets of nanofluids are measured at a wide shear range of 1–2000 s−1 and five different temperatures from 298 K to 338 K. The morphology and stability are validated by performing several characterizations for nanomaterials and nanofluids. Non-Newtonian fluid behavior is observed in all nanofluids. This study reveals a few interesting outcomes where the fluid behaving as a Power Law model is shifted to the Herschel-Bulkley model at high loadings of nanomaterials. A comparative analysis illustrates that both hybrid additives act as viscosity reducers for graphene-based nanofluids, where graphene-carbon nanofibers hybrid nanofluids exhibit noticeable reduction. A parametric analysis is performed on the viscous behavior involving the impact of shear rate, temperature, nanomaterial loading, and surfactant concentration. The increment in viscosity shoots up to 180 % for graphene-nanofluid at the 2000 s−1 shear rate and 338 K temperature, but still exhibits shear thinning phenomena. A correlation is also proposed for the nanofluid viscosity in terms of nanomaterial loading and temperature, indicating a good agreement at varying shear rates.