Thermo-physical properties of water based SiC nanofluids for heat transfer applications

Abstract

The aim of current paper consists in the fabrication, characterization and preparation of water based on SiC nanofluids and the experimental investigation of their thermo-physical properties. Thermal conductivity, viscosity and surface tension of SiC/water nanofluids were measured for two two weight concentrations of nanoparticles 0.5 and 1.0wt% respectively, within the range 20°C to 50°C. Concerning the thermal-properties of studied nanofluids, the experimental results show that the thermal conductivity increases with the increasing both of the weight concentration of the nanoparticles and temperature. Also, the dynamic viscosity of the SiC/water nanofluids increases with increasing nanoparticles concentration and decreases with the increasing temperature. Furthermore, the surface tension of studied nanofluids increases with the increase of the weight concentrations of the nanoparticles, but the results show that at a concentration of the nanoparticles of 0.5wt%, the surface tension was lower than the surface tension of the water, while at 1.0wt% nanoparticles, the surface tension of the nanofluids was close to the surface tension of the water. Measurements were compared with experimental data available in literature and theoretical models. Finally, SiC/water nanofluids were used as working fluid inside of the two-phase closed thermosyphon in order to study of the heat transfer from point of view both of operating temperature and the nanoparticles concentration.