Thermal conductivity of water and ethylene glycol nanofluids containing new modified surface SiO2-Cu nanoparticles: Experimental and modeling

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2016-09, Vol.108, p.48-53
• Main Authors: Amiri, Mohammad, Movahedirad, Salman, Manteghi, Faranak
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electron microscopy; Heat conduction; Nano-particles; Synthesis; Thermal conductivity
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.07.091

[Display omitted] •The SiO2 nanoparticles and SiO2-Cu nanocomposites are synthesized and characterized.•The nanoparticles were used to prepare water and ethylene glycol nanofluids.•Both nanofluids show about 11% thermal conductivity increment at 1% particle volume fraction.•A core shell based model is used to modify the Maxwell model prediction. In the present study SiO2-Cu nanocomposites are synthesized and characterized. At the next stage the thermal conductivity of the SiO2-Cu/water and SiO2-Cu/EG nanofluids are measured and reported. The results show that chemical deposition of a small amount of Cu on the SiO2 surface results in considerable rise in thermal conductivity of the base fluid. A water nanofluid contains less than 1% of modified nanocomposites can increase the thermal conductivity of water up to 11%. The increment on thermal conductivity of the EG with the same amount of nanoparticles was about 11.5% (temperature 25°C). One of the most important features of this work is that this type of nanofluids contains particles which have a density close to SiO2 but a thermal effect similar to copper. Finally, a core-shell model has been presented for the thermal conductivity prediction.