Study of Iron Nanopowders into Fluids of Industrial Lubrication

Abstract

The machines and equipment has required increasing performance of lubricating fluids and coolants which plays important role on reducing friction with the metal parts and heat extraction. Viscosity and thermal conductivity are the most important properties of lubricants, in relation to the friction between the fluid molecules. This paper presents two useful models to predict this properties and their relation with the particles volume fraction and temperature in the nanofluid formed by adition of iron or particles produced by friction. Nanofluids are innovative heat transfer fluids with superior potential for enhancing the heat transfer performance of conventional fluids. In this paper the Unit Cell Model (UCM) which considers the Brownian movement experienced by the nanoparticles are adapt to predict the increment of thermal conductivity of iron nanopowders and standard lubrication oil. The viscosity of the nanofluids was adapt from a model usually suitable for predict the effective viscosity of emulsions. Model results indicated a strong effect of the particle size and volume fractions on the increment of thermal conductivity.