CHAPTER 1

1.1

INTRODUCTION

Heat transfer :

Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use,
conversion, and exchange of thermal energy and heat between physical systems. As such heat
transfer is involved in almost every sector of the economy. Heat transfer is classified into
various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, thermal convection, thermal radiation, and
transfer of energy by phase changes. Engineers also consider the transfer of mass of differing
chemical species, either cold or hot, to achieve heat transfer. While these mechanisms have
distinct characteristics, they often occur simultaneously in the same system.
Heat conduction, also called diffusion, is the direct microscopic exchange of kinetic energy of
particles through the boundary between two systems. When an object is at a different
temperature from another body or its surroundings, heat flows so that the body and the
surroundings reach the same temperature, at which point they are in thermal equilibrium.
Such spontaneous heat transfer always occurs from a region of high temperature to another
region of lower temperature, as described by the second law of thermodynamics.
Heat convection occurs when bulk flow of a fluid (gas or liquid) carries heat along with the
flow of matter in the fluid. The flow of fluid may be forced by external processes, or
sometimes (in gravitational fields) by buoyancy forces caused when thermal energy expands
the fluid (for example in a fire plume), thus influencing its own transfer. The latter process is
often called "natural convection". All convective processes also move heat partly by
diffusion, as well. Another form of convection is forced convection. In this case the fluid is
forced to flow by use of a pump, fan or other mechanical means.
Thermal radiation occurs through a vacuum or any transparent medium (solid or fluid). It is
the transfer of energy by means of photons in electromagnetic waves governed by the same
laws.

1.2

Heat transferring fluids :

The Important heat transferring fluids are coolants and heat transfer oils. A coolant is a fluid
which flows through or around a device to prevent its overheating, transferring the heat
produced by the device to other devices that use or dissipate it. An ideal coolant has
high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, and chemically inert, neither

1|Page

causing nor promoting corrosion of the cooling system. Some applications also require the
coolant to be an electrical insulator.
While the term coolant is commonly used in automotive and HVAC applications, in industrial
processing, heat transfer fluid is one technical term more often used, in high temperature as
well as low temperature manufacturing applications. Another industrial sense of the word
covers cutting fluids.
The coolant can either keep its phase and stay liquid or gaseous, or can undergo a phase
transition, with the latent heat adding to the cooling efficiency. The latter, when used to
achieve low temperatures, is more commonly known as refrigerant.
An oil is any neutral, non-polar chemical substance, that is a viscous liquid at ambient
temperatures, and is both hydrophobic (immiscible with water, literally "water fearing") and
lipophilic (miscible with other oils, literally "fat loving"). Oils have a high carbon and
hydrogen content and are usually flammable and slippery. The general definition of oil
includes classes of chemical compounds that may be otherwise unrelated in structure,
properties, and uses. Oils may be animal, vegetable or petrochemical in origin, and may
be volatile or non-volatile. They are used for food, fuel, lubrication, and the manufacture of
paints, plastics, and other materials. Specially prepared oils are used in some religious
ceremonies as purifying agents.

1.3

Nanofluids :

Generally, nanofluids are formed by dispersing nanometer-sized particles (1-100 nm) or

droplets into HTFs. Nanoparticles have unique properties, such as large surface area to
volume ratio, dimension-dependent physical properties, and lower kinetic energy, which can
be exploited by the nanofluids. At the same time, the large surface area make nanoparticles
better and more stably dispersed in base fluids. Compared with micro-fluids or milli-fluids,
nanofluids stay more stable, so nanofluids are promising for practical applications without
causing problems mentioned above. Nanofluids well keep the fluidic properties of the base
fluids, behave like pure liquids and incur little penalty in pressure drop due to the fact that the
dispersed phase (nanoparticles) are extremely tiny, which can be very stably suspended in
fluids with or even without the help of surfactants. A most attractive characteristic of
nanofluids is that even by the addition of small amount of nanoparticle, they show anomalous
enhancement in thermal conductivity over 10 times more than the theoretically predicted.

2|Page

Eastman et al. reported a 40% thermal conductivity increase in ethylene glycol by adding
only 0.3 vol.% of copper nanoparticles with a diameter smaller than 10 nm. Experiments on
convection heat transfer of nanofluids were conducted by several research groups. The
experimental results showed significant improvements in heat transfer rates of nanofluids.
Meanwhile, the thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids show a temperaturedependent characteristic increase of enhancement with rising temperature, which makes the
nanofluids more suitable for applications at elevated temperatures. Another interesting
phenomenon of nanofluids is that even extremely low concentration of small nanoparticle
will dramatically increase the critical heat flux (CHF) in a pool boiling system. The
improved thermal transport properties of nanofluids would improve the efficiency of heat
exchanging, reduce the size of the systems, save pump power, reduce operational cost and
provide much greater safety margins. Better properties of nanofluids may be obtained if
higher-quality and more mono dispersed nanoparticles can be synthesized. Meanwhile,
nanofluids with the low volume fraction of the suspended nanoparticles incur almost no extra
penalty of pump power.
However, the research work on nanofluids is only at its infant stage. More work is necessary
for an in-depth understanding of the anomalous thermal conductivity jump and the
enhancement in the convective heat transfer coefficient in nanofluids. Some of the current
theoretical models attribute the increasing thermal conductivity to the high conductivity of
solids. But Chen argued that when the particle size is smaller than the mean free path of heatcarriers (electrons, phonons, or molecules), the heat carrier transport is ballistic or non-local
and Fouriers law is not applicable. In fact, thermal conductivity decreases rapidly with
decreasing particle size.
Very limited data have indicated an inverse dependency of nanofluids thermal conductivity
on the particle size with decreasing particle size, the effective thermal conductivity of
nanofluids tends to increase, which apparently contradicts the phenomenological sizedependent thermal conductivity of nanoparticles, and thus an investigation of the effects of
particles thermal conductivity on the thermal behavior of nanofluids is imperative. At the
same time, with decreasing particle size, the interfacial area between particles and the base
fluid increases dramatically. There has not been a systematic experimental investigation of
size dependent conductivity reported. An investigation of the effects of different particle sizes
on thermal conductivity enhancement is necessary before good-performance nanofluids can
be synthesized. On the other hand, the large interface areas between the nanoparticles and the
base fluids increase the heat transfer rate, so nanosheets, nanorods, and nanowires, which
3|Page

have large surface areas, perhaps are favorable to more significantly increase the thermal
conductivity of nanofluids.
Most research work on nanofluids is trying to increase the thermal conductivity, and other
important thermal transport properties, heat capacity and viscosity, have been paid less
attention to. Actually, functional thermal fluids, including emulsions and suspensions have
been a new class of heat transfer fluids with improved thermal transport properties. One of
the main advantages of these functional thermal fluids is that they can be specially designed
to optimally fulfill particular objectives, such as enhanced thermal conductivity, a higher
thermal energy storage capacity, a higher heat transfer coefficients, a higher critical heat flux,
a better temperature stabilization, and less pressure drop, etc. The use of phase change
materials (PCMs) as dispersed phases in continuous phases (base fluids) attracts much
attention by taking advantages of phase change latent heat of PCMs, the effective heat
capacity of the fluids is boosted while the fluidic properties of the fluids still remain.
The most commonly used PCMs are water, low-melting point metals, salt hydrates, fatty
acids, esters, polyethylene glycols and paraffins. Microencapsulated PCMs provide a portable
heat storage system: by coating a microscopic sized PCM with a protective coating, the
particles can be suspended within a continuous phase such as engine oil. With the use of
nanoparticles of PCMs with high thermal conductivity, the heat capacity of nanofluids is
expected to be improved as well as the thermal conductivity.
An emerging and new class of coolants are nanofluids which consist of a carrier liquid, such
as water, dispersed with tiny nano-scale particles known as nanoparticles. Purpose-designed
nanoparticles of e.g. CuO, alumina, titanium dioxide, carbon nanotubes, silica, or metals
(e.g. copper, or silver nanorods) dispersed into the carrier liquid the enhances the heat transfer
capabilities of the resulting coolant compared to the carrier liquid alone. The enhancement
can be theoretically as high as 350%. The experiments however did not prove so high thermal
conductivity improvements, but found significant increase of the critical heat flux of the
coolants.
Some significant improvements are achievable; e.g. silver nanorods of 5512 nm diameter
and 12.8 m average length at 0.5 vol.% increased the thermal conductivity of water by 68%,
and 0.5 vol.% of silver nanorods increased thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol based
coolant by 98%. Alumina nanoparticles at 0.1% can increase the critical heat flux of water by
as much as 70%; the particles form rough porous surface on the cooled object, which
encourages formation of new bubbles, and their hydrophilic nature then helps pushing them
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away, hindering the formation of the steam layer. Nanofluid with the concentration more than
5% acts like non-Newtonian fluids.
In thermal systems, it is desired to improve thermal characteristics of the system to provide
adequate heat transfer with less energy consumption. The size and operating costs can be
reduced by using thermally more effective working fluids. The studies performed until today
show that thermal efficiency of energy systems can be increased by using nanofluids instead
of conventional working fluids. Nanofluids are newly described engineered fluids that are
produced by the dispersion of nanometer sized solid particles with a relatively high thermal
conductivity into a base fluid to increase the thermal conductivity of the fluid. Higher thermal
conductivity of the nanofluid considerably increases the convective heat transfer coefficient.
Since it comes into attention as a result of developments in nanotechnology, which enable the
production of nanoparticles, there are gaps in literature about its research concerning the
theory behind it and its applications.

CHAPTER 2
5|Page

LITERATURE REVIEW

The first decade of nanofluid research was primarily focused on measuring and modelling
fundamental thermo-physical properties of nanofluids (thermal conductivity, density,
viscosity, heat transfer coefficient). This work aims at providing an insight to the field of
nanofluids by investigating in detail the fabrication and evaluation of physico-chemical,
thermo-physical and heat transfer characteristics of NFs for practical heat transfer
applications. A comprehensive outline of the attractive research progress made in the area of
nanofluids with the emphasis on heat transfer enhancement. At present, fundamental and
quantitative understanding of the thermal conductivity mechanisms in nanofluids is in the
initial stage.
Major task is analysing the microscopic motions in nanofluids and understanding their
contribution to energy transport. There are many variables involved, including nanoparticle
size and shape, nanoparticle and base fluid materials, type and concentration of surfactant,
concentration of nanoparticles, dispersion method, etc. It is expected that development of
scanning thermal conductivity microscope shall detect differences in thermal conductivity of
microscopic structures such as fibres, grains, particles, coatings, and intergranular phases.
Thermal conductivity has received the most attention, but several groups have recently
initiated studies of other heat-transfer properties. Few studies have been conducted on the
rheology of nanofluids, even though the viscosity of a nanofluid is as important as thermal
conductivity when it comes to practical applications. Previous experimental results are not
reproducible by other researchers, posing the question as to why nanofluids behave
differently. In most studies to date, sample sizes have been limited to less than a few hundred
milliliter of nanofluid. Larger samples will be needed to test many properties of nanofluids in
the future, particularly in assessing their potential for use in various applications .Robust
techniques for large-scale production of stable nanofluids are needed. Large increases in the
critical heat flux of boiling heat transfer have been reported within the past years, and this
phenomenon deserves thorough study. Thermal conductivity is probably not a critical issue
for critical heat flux. The future research should lead to the development of new experimental
methods for characterising and understanding nanofluids in the lab and in nature, as well as to
the development of computer-based models of nanofluids and functional, active nanofluid
phenomena. This may lead to the development of diverse, complex nanofluids with polymer
additives, including biological nanofluids, with potential for existing, new emerging, and
critical applications, including energy production and conversion, transportation.

6|Page

Eastman et al (1995): Low thermal conductivity is a primary limitation in the development of

energy-efficient heat transfer fluids that are required in many industrial applications. In this
paper, they propose that an innovative new class of heat transfer fluids can be engineered by
suspending metallic nanoparticles in conventional heat transfer fluids. The resulting
"nanofluids" are expected to exhibit high thermal conductivities compared to those of
currently used heat transfer fluids, and they represent the best hope for enhancement of heat
transfer. The results of a theoretical study of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with
copper nanophase materials are presented, the potential benefits of the fluids are estimated,
and it is shown that one of the benefits of nanofluids will be dramatic reductions in heat
exchanger pumping power.
Xuan et al (2000): This paper presents a procedure for preparing a nanofuid which is a
suspension consisting of nanophase powders and a base liquid. By means of the procedure,
some sample nanofuids are prepared. Their TEM photographs are given to illustrate the
stability and evenness of suspension. The theoretical study of the thermal conductivity of
nanofuids is introduced. The hot-wire apparatus is used to measure the thermal conductivity
of nanofuids with suspended copper nanophase powders. Some factors such as the volume
fraction, dimensions, shapes and properties of the nanoparticles are discussed. A theoretical
model is proposed to describe heat transfer performance of the nanofuid flowing in a tube,
with accounting for dispersion of solid particles.
Eastman et al (2002): Recent measurements on nanofluids have demonstrated that the thermal
conductivity increases with decreasing grain size. However such increases cannot be
explained by existing theories. They explore four possible explanations for this anomalous
increase: Brownian motion of the particles, molecular-level layering of the liquid at the
liquid-particle interface, the nature of the heat transport in the nanoparticles, and the effects
of nanoparticle clustering. They show that the key factors in understanding thermal properties
of nanofluids are the ballistic, rather than diffusive, nature of heat transport in the
nanoparticles, combined with direct or fluid-mediated clustering effects that provide paths for
rapid heat transport.
Choi et al (2004): They have found that the Brownian motion of nanoparticles at the
molecular and nano-scale level is a key mechanism governing the thermal behaviour of
nanofluids. They have devised a theoretical model that accounts for the fundamental role of
dynamic nanoparticles in nanofluids. The model not only captures the concentration and
temperature-dependent conductivity, but also predicts strongly size-dependent conductivity.
Furthermore, they have discovered a fundamental difference between solid/solid composites
7|Page

and solid/liquid suspensions in size-dependent conductivity. This understanding could lead to

design of nano-engineered next-generation coolants with industrial and biomedical
applications in high-heat-flux cooling.
Das et al (2006): In this paper they presented an exhaustive review of nanotechnology study
and suggest a direction for future developments in nanotechnology. The conclusion drawn in
this paper is that nanofluids show great promise for use in cooling and related technologies.
They observed maximum enhancement (+160%) with 1% volume fraction with multi-walled
carbon nanotubes dispersed in engine oil.
Mujumdar et al (2006): Research in convective heat transfer using suspensions of nanometersized solid particles in base liquids started only over the past decade. Recent investigations on
nanofluids, as such suspensions are often called, indicate that the suspended nanoparticles
markedly change the transport properties and heat transfer characteristics of the suspension.
This review summarizes recent research on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of
nanofluids in forced and free convection flows and identifies opportunities for future
research.
Wang et al (2007): This paper summarises some of our recent work on the heat transfer of
nanofluids (dilute liquid suspensions of nanoparticles). It covers heat conduction, convective
heat transfer under both natural and forced flow conditions, and boiling heat transfer in the
nucleate regime. The results show that, despite considerable data scattering, the presence of
nanoparticles enhances thermal conduction under macroscopically static conditions mainly
due to nanoparticle structuring/ networking. The natural convective heat transfer coefficient
is observed to decrease systematically with increasing nanoparticle concentration, and the
deterioration is partially attributed to the high viscosity of nanofluids. However, either
enhancement or deterioration of convective heat transfer is observed under the forced flow
conditions and particle migration is suggested to be an important mechanism. The results also
show that the boiling heat transfer is enhanced in the nucleate regime for both alumina and
titania nanofluids, and the enhancement is more sensitive to the concentration change for
TiO2 nanofluids.
Mannain (2009): Nanofluids are quasi single phase medium containing stable colloidal
dispersion of ultrafine or nanometric metallic or ceramic particles in a given fluid. Despite
almost a negligible concentration (< 1 vol.%) of the solid dispersed, nanofluids register an
extraordinarily high level of thermal conductivity, which largely depends on identity
(composition), amount (volume percent), size and shape of the dispersed and viscosity,
8|Page

density and related thermo-physical parameters of the base fluid. Nanofluids possess
immense potential of application to improve heat transfer and energy efficiency in several
areas including vehicular cooling in transportation, power generation, defence , nuclear,
space, microelectronics and biomedical devices. The biggest motivation for exploration and
exploitation of nanofluid should come from the fact that the degree of consistently attained
enhancement of thermal conductivity far exceeds the level predicted by the existing theory on
the subject.
Pramuanjaroenkij et al (2009): Nanofluids are considered to offer important advantages over
conventional heat transfer fluids. Over a decade ago, researchers focused on measuring and
modelling the effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids. Recently important
theoretical and experimental research works on convective heat transfer appeared in the open
literatures on the enhancement of heat transfer using suspensions of nanometer-sized solid
particle materials, metallic or nonmetallic in base heat transfer fluids. The purpose of this
review article is to summarize the important published articles on the enhancement of the
forced convection heat transfer with nanofluids.
Yu et al (2011): An overview of systematic studies that address the complexity of nanofluid
systems and advance the understanding of nanoscale contributions to viscosity, thermal
conductivity, and cooling efficiency of nanofluids is presented. A nanoparticle suspension is
considered as a three-phase system including the solid phase (nanoparticles), the liquid phase
(fluid media), and the interfacial phase, which contributes significantly to the system
properties because of its extremely high surface-to-volume ratio in nanofluids. The systems
engineering approach was applied to nanofluid design resulting in a detailed assessment of
various parameters in the multivariable nanofluid systems. The relative importance of
nanofluid parameters for heat transfer evaluated in this article allows engineering nanofluids
with desired set of properties.
Nkurikiyimfura et al (2012): Magnetic nanofluids (MNF) constitute a special class of
nanofluids that exhibit both magnetic and fluid properties. The interests in the use of MNF as
a heat transfer medium stem from a possibility of controlling its flow and heat transfer
process via an external magnetic field. This review presents recent developments in this field
with the aim of identifying major affecting parameters and some novel applications. This
review emphasizes on thermal conductivity enhancement and thermo-magnetic convection in
devices using MNFs as heat transfer media.

9|Page

Lomascolo et al (2014): An analytical overview of experimental results about the heat

transfer capabilities of nanofluids is presented, using widely scattered available information
from diverse literature sources. It is shown that, despite the large number of publications
available about this issue, only few studies provide quantitative estimates on a complete set
of experimental conditions so far and many studies are not coherent. Bearing in mind this
problem, in this study a selection of the most valuable papers has been done, taking into
account different points of view and hypotheses. Even if this work cannot be considered
exhaustive of the complete literature in the field of nanofluids, it can be taken into account as
a quick reference guide to have an overview of the different heat transfer phenomena in
nanofluids and how the most important parameters (size, shape, concentration, materials etc.)
influence the expected thermal performance of nanofluids.

10 | P a g e

CHAPTER 3
3.1

EXPLANATION

History of nanofluids:

Heat transfer fluids (HTFs) have many industrial and civil applications, including in
transport, energy supply, air-conditioning and electronic cooling, etc. Traditional HTFs, such
as water, oils, glycols and fluorocarbons, however, have inherently poor heat transfer
performance due to their low thermal conductivities. Research and development activities are
being carried out to improve the heat transport properties of fluids. Solid metallic materials,
such as silver, copper and iron, and non-metallic materials, such as alumina, CuO, SiC and
carbon nanotubes, have much higher thermal conductivities than HTFs. It is thus an
innovative idea trying to enhance the thermal conductivity by adding solid particles into
HTFs since Maxwell initiated it in 1881.
At the very beginning, solid particles of micrometer, even millimetre magnitudes were
blended into the base fluids to make suspensions or slurries. However, large solid particles
cause troublesome problems, such as abrasion of the surface, clogging the microchannels,
eroding the pipeline and increasing the pressure drop, which substantially limits the practical
applications. Actually, liquid suspension was primarily a theoretical treatment only of some
theoretical interest, and subsequent studies by other researchers achieved minor success. The
large size of the particles and the difficulty in production of small particles were limiting
factors.
The situation changed when S.U.S. Choi and J. Eastman in Argonne National Laboratory
revisited this field with their nano-scale metallic particle and carbon nanotube suspensions.
Choi and Eastman have tried to suspend various metal and metal oxides nanoparticles in
several different fluids, and the results are promising, however, many things remain elusive
about these suspensions of nano-structured materials, which have been termed nanofluids
by Choi and Eastman.
Many mechanisms have been proposed to describe the anomalous thermal conductivity
increase in nanofluids. Among these models the famous Hamilton-Crosser (HC) model was
based on the Maxwells model, and both of them only take into consideration of the volume
fraction and the geometry of particles. HC model gives a good description of systems with
micrometer or larger-size particles, but fails to predict the measured thermal conductivity of

11 | P a g e

nanofluids. Recently, Keblinski et al. presented four possible mechanisms in nanofluids

which may contribute to the thermal conduction:
(1) Brownian motion of nanoparticles
(2) Liquid layering at liquid/particle interface
(3) Ballistic nature of heat transport in nanoparticles
(4) Nanoparticle clustering in nanofluids.
It turns out that, Brownian motion of nanoparticles is too slow to directly transport a
significant amount of heat through a nanofluid, however, it could have an important indirect
role to produce a convection-like micro-environment around the nanoparticles and particle
clustering to increase the heat transfer; the presence of an ordered interfacial liquid molecule
layer seems to be not solely responsible for the anomalous increase of thermal conductivity,
especially this mechanism works well only when the particle size is smaller than 10nm;
nanoparticle clustering have both positive and negative effects on the increase of the thermal
conductivity. Although these possible mechanisms can explain the thermal behaviour of
nanofluids partially, more convincing and comprehensive experimental and theoretical
studies are needed in search of new nanofluids with better thermal performance.
A nanofluid is a fluid containing nanometer-sized particles, called nanoparticles. These fluids
are engineered colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles in a base fluid [42].The nanoparticles
used in nanofluids are typically made of metals, oxides, carbides, or carbon nanotubes.
Common base fluids include water, ethylene glycol and oil. The term 'nanofluid' also
indicates a mixture where the properties of both the nanoparticles and the base fluid
contribute to the application. In this sense, a nanofluid is created when nanoparticles are
controllably dispersed into a base fluid to enhance its properties.
Nanofluids have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications
in heat

transfer[43],including

and hybrid-powered

microelectronics, fuel

engines, engine

cooling/vehicle

cells,

pharmaceutical

thermal

management,

processes,
domestic

refrigerator, chiller, heat exchanger, in grinding, machining and in boiler flue gas temperature
reduction. They exhibit enhanced thermal conductivity and the convective heat transfer
coefficient compared to the base fluid[44]. Knowledge of the rheological behaviour of
nanofluids is found to be very critical in deciding their suitability for convective heat transfer
applications. Nanofluids also have special acoustical properties and in ultrasonic fields

12 | P a g e

display additional shear-wave reconversion of an incident compressive wave; the effect

becomes more pronounced as concentration increases[45].
In analysis such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), nanofluids can be assumed to be
single phase fluids. However, almost all of new academic paper use two-phase assumption.
Classical theory of single phase fluids can be applied, where physical properties of nanofluid
are taken as a function of properties of both constituents and their concentrations[46].An
alternative approach simulates nanofluids using a two-component model.
The spreading of a nanofluid droplet is enhanced by the solid-like ordering structure of
nanoparticles assembled near the contact line by diffusion, which gives rise to a
structural disjoining pressure in the vicinity of the contact line. However, such enhancement
is not observed for small droplets with diameter of nanometer scale, because the wetting time
scale is much smaller than the diffusion time scale.

3.2

Material of nanofluid and base fluid :

Nanoparticle materials include:

1. Oxide ceramics

Al2O3 ,CuO

2. Metal carbides

SiC

3. Nitrides

AlN , SiN

4. Metals

Al , Cu

5. Non-metals

Graphite , Carbon

6. Layered

Al+Al2O3 , Cu+C

Base fluids include :

1. Water
2. Ethylene- or tri-ethylene-glycols and other coolants
3. Oil and other lubricants
4. Bio-fluids
5. Polymer solutions
6. Other common fluids

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Table 1.Thermal Conductivity Values and Measuring Temperature of Thermal

Conductivity for Some Solids and Liquids.
Material

Thermal conductivity

Measuring temperature

(Wm-1K-1)

(K)

Aluminium (Al)

237

429

Copper (Cu)

401

273-373

Gold (Au)

318

273-373

Iron (Fe)

80.40

273-373

Silver (Ag)

429

300

Metallic solids

Non-metallic solids
Alumina (Al2O3)

40

CNT

3000

Copper oxide (CuO)

76.50

Diamond

3300

Fullerene

0.40

Silicon (Si)

148

Liquids
Ethylene glycol

.20

Engine oil

.14

Glycerol

.29

293

Water

.61

293

3.2.1

Nanoparticles :

Great varieties of nanoparticles are commercially available and can be used for preparation of
nanofluids. Nanoparticle material, concentration, size, and shape all contribute to the
nanofluid properties. it was mentioned previously the materials with the higher thermal
conductivity, specific heat, and density are beneficial for heat transfer. The size of
nanoparticles defines the surface-to-volume ratio and for the same volume concentrations
14 | P a g e

suspensionof smaller particles will have a higher area of the solid/liquid interface. Therefore,
the contribution of interfacial effects will be stronger in such a suspension[20,37].
Interactions between the nanoparticles and the fluid are manifested through the interfacial
thermal resistance ,also known as Kapitza resistance (R k), which rises because interfaces act
as an obstacle to heat flow and diminish the overall thermal conductivity of the system. The
values of Kapitza resistance are constant for the particular solid/liquid interface defined by
the strength of solid-liquid interaction and can be correlated to the wetting properties of the
interface. When the interactions between the nanoparticle surfaces and the fluid are weak
(non-wetting case) the rates of energy transfer are small resulting in relatively large values of
Rk. The overall contribution of the solid/liquid interface to the macroscopic thermal
conductivity of nanofluids is negative and was found proportional to the total area of the
interface, increasing with decreasing particle sizes[37].
The size of nanoparticles also affects the viscosity of nanofluids. In general, the viscosity
increases as the volume concentration of particles increases. Studies of suspensions with the
same volume concentration and material of nanoparticles but different sizes[37]showed that
the viscosity of suspension increases as the particle size decreases. This behavior is related to
formation of structured layers of the fluid along the nanoparticle interfaces that move with the
particles in the flow[38]. The thicknesses of those fluid layers depend on the strength of
particle-fluid interactions while the volume of immobilized fluid increases in proportion to
the total area of the solid/liquid interface. The effective volume concentration (immobile
fluid and nanoparticles) is higher in suspensions of smaller nanoparticles resulting in higher
viscosity. Therefore, contributions of interfacial effects, negligible at micron particle sizes,
become very important for nanoparticle suspensions. To achieve benefit for heat transfer, the
suspensions of larger nanoparticles with the higher thermal conductivity and lower viscosity
should be used.
A drawback of using larger nanoparticles is the potentialin stability of nanofluids. Effects of
the nanoparticles shapes on the thermal conductivity and viscosity of alumina-ethylene
glycol/H2O suspensions[37] are also strongly related to the total area of the solid/liquid
interface. In nanofluids with non-spherical particles the thermal conductivity enhancements
predicted by the Hamilton-Crosser equation [4]are diminished by the negative contribution of
the interfacial thermal resistance as the sphericity of nanoparticles decreases[37]. Elongated
particles and agglomerates also result in higher viscosity at the same volume concentration as
spheres due to structural limitation of rotational and transitional Brownian motion. Therefore,
it can be concluded that spherical particles or low aspect ratio spheroids are more practical
15 | P a g e

for achieving lower viscosities in nanofluidsthe property that is highly desirable for
minimizing the pumping power penalties in cooling system applications.
3.2.2

Base fluid :

The influence of base fluids on the thermo-physical properties of suspensions is not very well
studied and understood. Suspensions of the same Al 2O3 nanoparticles in water, ethylene
glycol, glycerol, and pump oil showed increase in relative thermal conductivity with decrease
in thermal conductivity of the base fluid[20] . On the other hand, the alteration of the base
fluid viscosity[39] (from 4.2 to 5500 centi poise, by mixing two with approximately the same
thermal conductivity) resulted in decrease in the thermal conductivity of the Fe 2O3 suspension
as the viscosity of the base fluid increased. Comparative studies of SiC suspensions in water
and 50/50 ethylene glycol/water mixturewith controlled particle sizes, concentration, and pH
showed that relative change in thermal conductivity due to the introduction of nanoparticles
is ~5% higher in ethylene glycol / H2O than in H2O [37]. This effect cannot be explained
simply by the lower thermal conductivity of the ethylene glycol/ H 2O base fluid since the
difference in enhancement values expected from EMT is less than 0.1% . Therefore, the base
fluid effect observed in different nanofluid systems is most likely related to the lower value
of the interfacial thermal resistance (better wet ability) in the ethylene glycol / H 2O than in
the H2O based nanofluids.
Relative viscosity decreases with the increase of the average particle size in both ethylene
glycol / H2O than in H2O -based suspensions. However, at the same volume concentration of
nanoparticles relative viscosity increase is smaller in the ethylene glycol /H 2O than in H2O
-based nanofluids, especially in suspensions of smaller nanoparticles[37].
According to the classic Einstein-Bachelor equation for hard non-interacting spheres[7], the
percentage viscosity increase should be independent of the viscosity of the base fluid and
only

proportional

to

the

particle

volume

concentration.

Therefore,

the

experimentallyobserved change in viscosity increase in base fluids can be related to the

difference in structure and thickness of immobilized fluid layers around the nanoparticles,
affecting the effective volume concentration and ultimately the viscosity of the
suspensions[37].
Since both high thermal conductivity and low viscosity increases in nanofluids are important
for heat transfer performance, the nanofluids prepared from more viscous base fluids will
have greater potential for practical applications.

16 | P a g e

Viscosity increase in nanofluids was shown to depend not only on the type of the base fluid,
but also on the pH value (in protonic fluids) that establishes zeta potential (charge at the
particles slipping plane). Particles of the same charge repel each other minimizing the
particle- particle interactions that strongly affect viscosity[40]. It was demonstrated that the
viscosity of the alumina-based nanofluids can be decreased by 31% by only adjusting the pH
of the suspension without affecting the thermal conductivity[37]. Nanoparticles in
suspensions can be well-dispersed (particles move independently) or agglomerated
(ensembles of particles move together). Depending on the particle concentration and the
magnitude of particle-particle interactions that are affected by pH, surfactant additives and
particle size and shape, a dispersion/agglomeration equilibrium establishes in nanoparticle
suspension.
Introduction of other additives (salts and surfactants) may also affect the zeta potential at the
particle surfaces. Non-ionic surfactants provide steric insulation of nanoparticles preventing
Van-der Waals interactions, while ionic surfactants may serve as both electrostatic andsteric
stabilization. The thermal conductivity of surfactants is significantly lower than water and
ethylene glycol. Therefore, addition of such additives, while improving viscosity, typically
reduces the thermal conductivity of suspension.
It should be mentioned here that all thermo-physical properties have some temperature
dependence. The thermal conductivity of fluids may increase or decrease with the
temperature. However, it was shown that relative enhancement in the thermal conductivity
due to addition of nanoparticles remains constant[37]. The viscosity of most fluids strongly
depends on the temperature, typically decreasing with increasing temperature.
It was noted in a couple of nanofluid systems that the relative increase in viscosity is reduced
as temperature rises[37]. The fact of constant thermal conductivity increase and viscosity
decrease with temperature makes nanofluids technology very promising for high temperature
application. The density and specific heat of nanofluids change insignificantly within the
practical range of current cooling applications. Stability of nanofluids could be improved
with temperature increase due to increase in kinetic energy of particles, but heating also may
affect the suspension stability provided by electrostatic or/and steric methods. Further studies
are needed in this area.

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3.3

Types of nanofluid :

The range of potentially useful combinations of nanoparticle and base fluids is enormous.
Nanofluids can be classified broadly by the type of particles into four groups: ceramic, pure
metallic, alloy, and some allotropes of carbon or carbon-based nanofluids. Different
combinations of the above particles and fluids give different nanofluids.
3.3.1

Ceramic Nanofluids :

The first materials tried for nanofluids were ceramic particles, primarily because they were
easy to produce and chemically stable in solution. The ceramics are classified into three
distinct categories: oxides such as alumina and zirconia, non-oxides such as carbides,
nitrides, and silicides, and composites such as combinations of oxides and non-oxides. Each
one of these classes can develop unique material properties. Among different kinds of
ceramics, much interest has been shown on oxide nanofluids. The first published report by
Masuda et al[12] reported 30% increases in the thermal conductivity of water with the
addition of 4.3 vol. % Al2O3nanoparticles.
Ceramic nanofluids were the first type of nanofluid investigated by the ANL group. The first
major publication in this area presented conductivity measurements on fluids that contained
Al2O3 and CuO nanoparticles in water and ethylene glycol. Conductivity was measured by
the traditional transient hot-wire (THW) method. The results clearly indicated that the
thermal conductivity enhancement of the Al2O3 and CuO nanofluids were high. They used
volume fractions of only 15%. The enhancement was higher when ethylene glycol was the
base fluid. An enhancement of 20% was observed at 4% volume fraction of CuO. The
enhancement when water was the base fluid was lower but still substantial, with 12%
enhancement at3.5% CuO, and 10% enhancement with 4% Al 2O3.These results were high
when compared with the model for suspensions proposed by Maxwell, which was improved
in 1962 to include the effect of particle shape. These models predict the effective thermal
conductivity as essentially a weighted average of solid and liquid conductivity derived from a
point source method.
3.3.2

Pure Metallic Nanofluids :

Although fewer studies of nanofluids containing metal nanoparticles have been carried out
than those of containing oxide nanoparticles, the results have been encouraging. Usually, a
much higher effective thermal conductivity is exhibited for a nanofluid consisting of a metal
than that of containing the same volume fraction of dispersed oxide of that metal[10]. Even
though the potential of nanofluids was evident from ceramic nanofluids, the emergence of
18 | P a g e

metallic particle-based nanofluids was a big step forward. Xuan and Li[17] were the first to
try copper particle-based nanofluids of transformer oil. Though they used much larger (100
nm) particles, the enhancement reported was 55% with 5% volume fraction.
However, the real breakthrough came when the ANL group reported a 40% enhancement of
conductivity with only 0.3% concentration of 10 nm-sized copper particles suspended in
ethylene glycol[18]. This report clearly showed the particle size effect and the potential of
nanofluids with smaller particles. The nanofluids were stabilized with thioglycolic acid.
In another study, Patel et al[25] used gold and silver for the first time to prepare nanofluids.
They also used a transient hot wire method for measuring thermal conductivity. The most
important observation in their study was a perceptible enhancement in thermal conductivity
for vanishingly small concentrations. It was reported that at room temperature, the
conductivity of toluene-gold nanofluid was enhanced by 37% for a volume fraction of only
0.0050.011%, whereas the enhancement for watergold nanofluid was 3.25% for a
vanishingly small concentration of 0.00130.0026% volume fraction.
The main reason for such an enhancement was the small size (1020 nm) of the particles. The
enhancement was greater with water-based nanofluids because bare particles were used, and
was lower for toluene-based nanofluids where the nanoparticles were protected by a layer of
thiolate coating, which was used to prevent agglomeration. Another important observation of
their study was the relatively lower conductivity of watersilver nanofluids. It clearly showed
that even though silver is higher in conductivity, it provided less enhancement because its
size was relatively larger (6080 nm). This finding indicates that particle size can override the
particle conductivity or concentration effects.
Xie et al [20]studied the dependency of thermal conductivity of nanoparticlefluid mixtures
on the base fluid. These investigators studied nano-sized -Al 2O3 dispersed in deionized
water, glycerol, ethylene glycol, pump oil, ethylene glycol-water mixture, and glycerol-water
mixture. It was found that thermal conductivity ratios decrease with the increased thermal
conductivity of the base fluid.
Hong et al [33] achieved an enormous increase in the thermal conductivity of nanofluids of
10 nm-sized Fe nanoparticles suspended in ethylene glycol. They obtained an enhancement of
18% with just 0.55% volume fraction. They also showed that the sonication of the nanofluid
has an important effect on the thermal conductivity of nanofluid, indirectly proving the effect
of particle size on the thermal conductivity of nanofluid.

19 | P a g e

3.3.3

Alloy Nanofluids :

Alloying of metals with different metals is a way of developing new materials with better
technological usefulness as compared to their parent metals. Studies on alloy nanoparticles
revealed that their physical properties differ from what have been observed in bulk samples.
Alloy nanofuilds may be prepared by mechanical alloying or by the inert gas condensation
process.
3.3.4

Carbon-Based Naofluids :

The large intrinsic thermal conductivity of some carbonbased nanostructures, combined with
their low densities as compared to metals, make them attractive candidates for using in
nanofluids. Examples of carbon-based nanofluids are fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (singlewalled nanotubes (SWNTs), multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs), and ultra dispersed diamond)
in different fluids. Compared with metal or metal oxide materials, CNTs have higher thermal
conductivity. For example, thermal conductivity values for SWNT, double-walled carbon
nanotube, and MWNT are 6000 Wm-1K-1, 3986 Wm-1K-1, and 3000 Wm-1K-1, respectively
[41].
One of the first studies involving CNT nanofluids was carried out by Choi et al[26] They
measured the effective thermal conductivity of 1.0 vol.% MWNTs dispersed in synthetic
poly(a-olefin) oil and reported 160% increase in thermal conductivity. There are some
reasons for this anomalous phenomenon. First, the thermal conductivity of CNT is similar to
that of graphite and approaches or even exceeds that of natural diamond, the best roomtemperature thermal conductor. Second, nanotubes have high aspect ratios.
The greatest enhancement of thermal conductivity was observed in a subsequent study
performed at ANL[18].With polymer nanotubes, a similar enhancement was reported by
Biercuk et al[31] The reason for the abnormal rise of enhancement and the nonlinear behavior
is yet to be explained, but there is two facts. First, the thermal conductivity of carbon
nanotubes is very high (3000 W/mK); second, the nanotubes have a very high aspect ratio
(2000). The article will indicate the implications of the aspect ratio of the nanotubes when the
possible theories of thermal conductivity of nanofluids are considered.
Xie et al [20] have measured thermal conductivity of MWCNTs with a 15 nm average
diameter and 30 m length, suspended in water, ethylene glycol, and decene. The suspensions
in water and ethylene glycol were without any surfactant but coated with oxygen-containing
functional groups. Those suspended in decene had the help of oleylamine as a surfactant. It
was found that there was more enhancement for same volume fraction in the fluid that has a
20 | P a g e

lower thermal conductivity. Maximum enhancement in thermal conductivity was found in

decene, which was 20% for 1% volume of CNTs. Also it was found to be increasing linearly
with volume fraction. However, the enhancement is far smaller than that achieved by Assael
et al measured thermal conductivity of multiwalled as well as double-walled CNTs.
Thermal conductivity of MWCNTs of around a 130 nm average diameter and 40 m average
length was found to be 34% for 0.6% volume, whereas that of double walled CNTs was
found to be 8% for 1% volume suspension in water. Hwang et al have also obtained similar
results for MWCNT suspensions in water as well as ethylene glycol. Liu et al measured
thermal conductivity of MWCNTs 2050 nm in diameter and observed an increase of
12.4%in the thermal conductivity of CNT suspension in ethylene glycol for 1% volume
fraction and 30% enhancement in the CNT suspension in synthetic oil for 2% volume
fraction.

3.4

Preparation Methods for Nanofluids :

Various methods have been tried to produce different kinds of nanoparticles and
nanosuspensions. There are two primary methods to prepare nanofluids: A two-step method
in which nanoparticles or nanotubes are first produced as a dry powder. The resulting
nanoparticles are then dispersed into a fluid in a second step and Single-step nanofluid
processing methods have also been developed and there are a novel methods also mentioned
in this section.
Preparation of nanofuids is the first key step in applying nanophase particles to changing the
heat transfer performance of conventional fluids. The nanofluid does not simply refer to a
Liquid - solid mixture. Some special requirements are necessary, such as even suspension,
stable suspension, durable suspension, low agglomeration of particles, no chemical change of
the fluid. In general, these are effective methods used for preparation of suspensions: (1) to
change the pH value of suspensions;(2) to use surface activators and/or dispersants; (3) to
useultrasonic vibration. All these techniques aim at changing the surface properties of
suspended particles and suppressing formation of particles cluster in order to obtain stabile
suspensions. It depends upon the application case how these techniques are used.
The common activators and dispersants are thiols, oleicacid, laurate salts. Selection of the
suitable activators and dispersants mainly depends upon the properties of solutions and
particles. For example, the aqueous-favoring dispersant may be fit for water-particle
suspension. In this, the nanostructured material of Cu particles of about 100 nm diameter is
21 | P a g e

used to form water and mineral oil-particle suspensions. The nanoparticles and a fluid are
directly mixed. While preparing the suspensions, different types and percentages of activators
or dispersants have been tried and tested.
3.4.1

Two-Step Method :

This method is the most widely used for preparing nanofluids. Nanoparticles, nanofibers,
nanotubes, or other nanomaterials used in this method are first produced as dry powders by
chemical or physical methods. Then, the nano-sized powder will be dispersed into a fluid in
the second processing step with the help of intensive magnetic force agitation, ultrasonic
agitation, high-shear mixing, homogenizing, and ball milling. Two-step method is the most
economic method to produce nanofluids in large scale, because nanopowder synthesis
techniques have already been scaled up to industrial production levels. Due to the high
surface area and surface activity, nanoparticles have the tendency to aggregate. The important
technique to enhance the stability of nanoparticles in fluids is the use of surfactants.
However, the functionality of the surfactants under high temperature is also a big concern,
especially for high-temperature applications. Due to the difficulty in preparing stable
nanofluids by two-step method, several advanced techniques are developed to produce
nanofluids, including one-step method.
The two-step or dispersion method is the most common method. The nanoparticles are
dispersed into base fluids using ultrasonic agitation or mechanical stirring or by adding
dispersants or and adjusting pH value of nanofluids. The purpose of ultrasonification and
mechanical stirring is to break down the aggregates of nanoparticles. Adding dispersants or
and adjusting the pH value is to avoid the re-aggregation of nanoparticles and resulting in
stable nanofluids. Most of the investigators prepared the nanofluids by using two-step method
without adding any kind of surfactant or dispersant.
Very few researchers have added dispersant to avoid agglomeration. Xuan and Roetzel and
Hwang et al. added salt and oleic acid as surfactant to enhance the stability of Cu
nanoparticles in Cu-transformer oil based nanofluid. They have reported the thermal
performances is considerably reduces when surfactant is added while preparing nanofluids.
Most of the nanofluids have been prepared by using two-step method and nanofluids are
metal oxide nanofluids. Das et al. revealed the metal oxide particles is the first materials tried
for nanofluids preparation and this is mainly because they are easy to prepare and chemically
stable in base fluids.

22 | P a g e

A two-step method gives large scale production of nanofluids whereas; single-step method is
limited. The main drawback in two-step method is large agglomerations whereas single-step
method is limited agglomerations. The only one disadvantage in single step method is that the
base fluid must have low vapour pressure and oxidation may occur at the surface of pure
metallic particles. The single step method has the advantages in terms of controlling the
particle size, reducing the particles agglomeration and producing nanofluids containing
metallic nanoparticles. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to prepare nanofluids with a
high particle volume concentration.
3.4.2

One-Step Method :

The nanoparticles may agglomerate during the drying storage, and transportation process,
leading to difficulties in the following dispersion stage of two-step method. Consequently, the
stability and thermal conductivity of nanofluid are not ideal. In addition, the production cost
is high. To reduce the agglomeration of the nanoparticles, one-step methods have been
developed. There are some ways for preparing nanofluids using this method including direct
evaporation condensation, chemical vapour condensation, and single-step chemical synthesis.
Single-step technique combines the production of nanoparticles and dispersion of
nanoparticles into base fluid in a single step. Akoh et al. developed VEROS (Vacuum
Evaporation onto a Running Oil Substrate) technique. It involves condensing nanophase
powders from the vapour phase directly into a flowing low pressure fluid. Eastman et al.
developed one-step physical method to rectify the difficulties faced by Wagener et al. and
obtained a uniform distribution of nanoparticles in base fluids. Zhu et al. developed a singlestep chemical method for preparing stable Cu in ethylene glycol nanofluids. It was
synthesized by reducing copper sulfate penta hydrate with sodium hypophosphite in ethylene
glycol under micro wave irradiation.
Further, Lo et al. developed another single-step method, called Submerged Arc Nanoparticles
Synthesis System (SANSS), to prepare the metal particles nanofluids. In this method, the
nanoparticles are produced by heating the metal electrode by means of arc sparking and
condensing it into liquid in vacuum chamber. This method is good for preparing high thermal
conductivity metals. Singh presented in a review paper that the common difficulty encounter
in preparing the nanofluid is the agglomeration. To counter this problem, researchers added
the surfactant to the base fluids while preparing nanofluid the nanoparticles. Single-step
method has two drawbacks: the bulk preparation of nanofluids and valid only for lowpressure base fluids Zhu et al.
23 | P a g e

However, there are some disadvantages for one-step method. The most important one is that
the residual reactants are left in the nanofluids due to incomplete reaction or stabilization. It is
difficult to elucidate the nanoparticle effect without eliminating this impurity effect.
3.4.3

Other Novel Methods :

Wei et al developed a continuous flow micro fluidic micro reactor to synthesize copper
nanofluids. By this method, copper nanofluids can be continuously synthesized, and their
microstructure and properties can be varied by adjusting parameters such as reactant
concentration, flow rate, and additive. CuO nanofluids with high solid volume fraction can be
synthesized through a novel precursor transformation method with the help of ultrasonic and
microwave irradiation[29].
The precursor Cu(OH)2 is completely transformed to CuO nanoparticle in water under
microwave irradiation. The ammonium citrate prevents the growth and aggregation of
nanoparticles, resulting in a stable CuO aqueous nanofluid with higher thermal conductivity
than those prepared by other dispersing methods. Phase-transfer method is also a facile way
to obtain mono disperse noble metal colloids.
Phase transfer method is also applied for preparing stable kerosene based Fe 3O4nanofluids.
Oleic acid is successfully grafted onto the surface of Fe 3O4 nanoparticles by chemisorbed
mode, which lets Fe3O4 nanoparticles have good compatibility with kerosene[41]. In a water
cyclohexane two-phase system, aqueous formaldehyde is transferred to cyclohexane phase
via reaction with dodecylamine to form reductive intermediates in cyclohexane. The
intermediates are capable of reducing silver or gold ions in aqueous solution to form
dodecylamine-protected silver and gold nanoparticles in cyclohexane solution at room
temperature. Feng et al. used the aqueous organic phase transfer method for preparing gold,
silver, and platinum nanoparticles on the basis of the decrease of the PVPs solubility in water
with the temperature increase.

3.5

Physics of Nanofluids :

In 2004 Eastman assessed the nanofluidic properties of the carbon Nanotubes. The driving
force for this study were interesting properties like astonishingly high conductivity, low
density and high aspect ratio other factors. As their study did not produce expected results,
significance of intervening factors was critically investigated. They found out that alignment
of the nanotubes, volume loading, adhesion between the fibers and the matrix, and particles
were responsible for deviation of results. According to Eastman 2004, particle coating plays a
24 | P a g e

negative role in performance of nanoparticles towards increasing the thermal conductivity of

the base fluid at only 3% weight loading of the Nanotubes As another example Choi et al in
2003 observed a 300 % increase of thermal conductivity of the Nanofluid compared to the
based fluid. Alignment factor was proved important by Choi at al. in 2003 after an additional
10% thermal conductivity to the already increased thermal conductivity (300%) was observed
with tubes aligned with the fluid movement direction. As of their conclusion Choi et al.
considers the interaction between matrix and tubes as an important factor as well as
interfacial resistance, aspect ratio. Surprisingly they used molecular dynamic and Atomistic
simulation in their as a tools for better understanding and analysis of the governing
phenomena.

3.6

THEORIES ON NANOFLUIDS :

Since Choi[13] proposed his theory on nanofluids, a continuous effort has ensued to look for
the causes of the so-called anomalous increase in thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Starting
from simple Brownian motion to complicated fractals, many propositions have been tested.
During the last years, this effort of modeling the nanofluid behavior has intensified; however,
it appears that the truth is still to be revealed.
Traditional theories explained the thermal conductivity enhancement of usual slurries and
suspensions quite extensively. The basic model of Maxwell [1] was extended by the
investigators who included the effect of shape[4], particle interactions[5], and particle
distribution[8]. The Bruggeman model [3] has a similar nature plus the advantage of being
valid for a wide range of concentrations. In general, Maxwells method works well for a low
thermal conductivity ratio between the solid and the fluid.
The failure of the classical theories to predict nanofluid behaviour gave rise to hypotheses
about the mechanism of heat transfer in nanofluids. Wang et al attributed the enhancement to
particle motion, surface action, and electro-kinetic effects. The hydrodynamic force in the
form of micro-convection can also be a cause of the enhancement. A serious look at the
various possible enhancement mechanisms was the focus of Keblinski et al [35] At first sight,
even though the Brownian motion appears to be a probable mechanism, results of a timescale
study led to its rejection. The studies of Wang et al also showed that Brownian motion is not a
significant contributor. Keblinski et al showed that liquid layering around the particle could
give a path for rapid conduction. The mechanism of ballistic heat transport gains significance
because the phonon mean free path is of the order of nanoparticle dimensions. Liquid
layering theory was shown to be promising, but it uses an adjustable parameter of the
25 | P a g e

thickness of the liquid layer. The transport at nanoscale is obviously to be modelled with the
relevant theories. The nanoscale modeling using Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) appears
to be appropriate; however, the solution of BTE with nano-particles in a host medium by
Chen[16] indicates a lowering of effective conductivity for nonlocal, non-equilibrium
conduction rather than enhancement.
Hence, such microscopic treatments also fail to predict the observed enhancement in
nanofluid conduction. Wang et al [24]approached the theory from the standpoint of fractal
geometry, which is actually an extension of the Maxwell-Garnett model[2]. Following up on
the approach of Pitchumaniet al [9] to fibrous composites, they included a surface adsorption
and particle conductivity approach, in contrast to the bulk conductivity used by other models.
The results indicate that, for CuOwater nanofluids, the fractal model shows good promise
when adsorption is included in the analysis, but it under-predicts the enhancement in the
absence of adsorption.
A very novel approach in the modeling of nanofluids wastaken by Xue. The model utilizes
field factor approach, with a depolarization factor and an effective dielectric constant. The
model is essentially based on liquid layering theory. With two adjustable parameters (i.e., the
thickness and conductivity value of the liquid layer), the theory matches the measured value.
A model that considers only temperature distribution function and liquid layering[36]was
presented by the same author for the prediction of the thermal conductivities of nanoparticle
suspensions. The model predicts the thermal conductivities of CuO particle suspensions
inwater as well as ethylene glycol; however, both of the above models carry the same
drawbacks as the original. Yu and Choi used the liquid layer around particles to find effective
particle concentration, and calculated as indicated by Schwartz[14]. Xie et al[36]. have
modeled the thermal conductivity of the liquid layer and incorporated it in effective thermal
conductivity of nanofluid. But they too have validated it against only a few experimental
results, which also considered a fixed nanolayer thickness of 2 nm, although the nanolayer
thickness may be expected to be different for different combinations of liquid and solid.
The major drawbacks of work that tries to explain effective thermal conductivity of
nanofluids only through liquid layering are that the size of layer is assumed to be very high,
an assumption that hasnt been experimentally validated, and that the thermal conductivity of
the liquid layer is taken to be as high as the thermal conductivity of the solid. The only
experimental proof of a liquid layer shows that it is only a few (three) atomic diameters
thick . Also in a numerical work, Xue et al[28]have confirmed this finding from a
fundamental point of view. Using molecular dynamics simulation, they have shown that the
26 | P a g e

effect of high surface energies on nanoparticles and the interactions between the solid and
liquid molecules cannot affect the properties of the surrounding liquid for more than five
atomic distances.
Another approach has gained momentum in explaining the thermal conductivity enhancement
the incorporation of particle motion. Even though it has been stated earlier that Brownian
motion alone cannot account for this enhancement, anew look at Brownian motion[19,15] has
been presented. Using a drift velocity model, Yu et al[27]. have shown that the collision of
particles and the drift velocity can account for avery small part of the enhancement. With a
specific example of copper particles in ethylene glycol, they showed that at least the order of
the enhancement could be guessed if nano-convection in the space between the particles is
assumed. This is quite logical, because in gases, only a void is present between the
particles(molecules), whereas in nanofluids, a fluid will be participating in a nano-convection
that may even be set by electrical dipole.
Xuan et al.[27] has presented another model that primarily combines the concept of fractals
and Brownian motion. The whole process has been assumed to have two additive parts: the
usual static theory of suspension and the Brownian motion dominated dynamic. Naturally, the
Brownian motion part is temperature-dependent and was proposed to be proportional to
square root of temperature. This model proved to be very weak when compared with
experimental results.
A more realistic idea of enhancement as well as temperature effect was modeled recently by
two groups that essentially used the Brownian motion concept. The model of Jang and Choi
is based on conduction, Kapitza resistance at particle surfaces, and convection. In deriving
their thermal conductivity model, they considered four modes of energy transport: collisions
between base fluid molecules (i.e., thermal conductance of fluid); thermal diffusion in
nanoparticles; a collision between nanoparticles due to Brownian motion, which by order ofmagnitude analysis, was neglected; and thermal interaction of dynamic nanoparticles with the
base fluid. Brownian motion produced convection-like effects at nanoscale. As particle size is
decreased, random motion becomes larger, and convection-like effects become dominant.
This model was able to predict a particle size and temperature-dependent conductivity
accurately .Kumar et al. presented a model that accounts for the dependence of thermal
conductivity on particle size, concentration, and temperature. The proposed model has two
aspects. The stationary particle model accounts for the geometrical effect of an increase in
surface area per unit volume with decreasing particle size. It assumes two parallel paths of

27 | P a g e

heat flow through the suspension, one through the liquid particles, and the other through the
nanoparticles.
Here, the direct dependence of thermal conductivity enhancement on volume fraction and the
inverse dependence of thermal conductivity enhancement on particle diameter have been
suggested. In the moving particle model, the effective thermal conductivity of particles is
modeled by drawing a parallel to the kinetic theory of gases. Predictions from the combined
model agree with experimentally observed values of conductivity enhancement of nanofluids
with a vanishingly small particle concentration. However, in the Jang and Choi and Kumaret
al. models, the constant used is empirical and varies over several orders of magnitude for
different combinations of the particle-fluid mixture.
A similar approach was adopted by Ren et al.[31], who considered kinetic theory-based
micro-convection and liquid layering in addition to liquid and particle conduction. The model
is working well for ceramic particle suspensions. They also considered a fixed nanolayer
thickness of 2 nm and determined the thermal conductivity of the nanolayer as the volumeaveraged thermal conductivity of the base liquid and particles.
Prasher et al. [29]have presented another model in the same vein. They modeled the thermal
conductivity of solid particles from the kinetic theory of gases and incorporated the
contribution of Brownian motion-based convection to total heat transport in the effective
medium approach-based thermal conductivity equation. The Brownian motion velocity
considered is based on the equi-partition theorem, whereas the velocities of particles
considered for modeling the thermal conductivity of nanoparticles is phonon velocity. For the
first time, they considered the effect of multiparticle convection. The model is working well
for ceramic particle-based nanofluids for particular values of constants used in modeling.
Recently, Patel et al.[32] have modelled the thermal conductivity of nanofluid empirically
with a new, semi empirical approach. High enhancements are attributed to the increase in the
specific surface area and Brownian motion-based micro-convection. The micro-convection is
modelled with empiricism in the Nusselt number definition. With that, the models working
extremely well over a wide range of nanofluid combinations and parameters. Similarly, a
completely empirical model provides a correlation for alumina nanofluids by fitting a curve
through regression analysis to the existing experimental data. In this model, when microconvection around particles is modeled, the mean free path of liquid molecules is considered
as a characteristic length to derive the diffusive velocities of the particles.

28 | P a g e

Bhattacharya et al.[29] also performed Brownian dynamics simulation to determine the

effective conductivity of nanofluids. The simulation results were within 3% of experimental
data for Al2O3ethylene glycol and in nearly full agreement with Cuethylene glycol.
Recently, Xuan and Yao[30] developed a Lattice Boltzmann model to investigate nanoparticle
distribution and flow pattern and found that the main flow and rising temperature of the fluid
can improve nanoparticle distribution, which is beneficial to energy transport enhancement of
the nanofluids. Nan et al. have presented a simple formula for thermal conductivity
enhancement in CNT composites that is derived from the Maxwell-Garnett model[26] by the
effective medium approach. The model over predicts the enhancement in the thermal
conductivity of CNT suspensions when calculated with typical values of CNT thermal
conductivities.
Thus, various models and mechanisms that depend on an extension of classical theory, liquid
layering, particle aggregation ,and particle movement have been developed in an effort to
explain the nanofluid behavior.

3.7

Need of nanofluid :

Large particles (micro or macro) in base fluid cause many problems:

Large particles are easy to settle out from the base fluids, especially in lowspeed
circulation, not only losing the enhancement in thermal conductivity, but forming a
sediment layer at the surface, increasing the thermal resistance and impairing the heat

transfer capacity of the fluids.

The large size of the particles or the agglomerates of these particles causes severe

clogging problems, especially at low circulation rate of fluids or in microchannels.

Large particles and the agglomerates in fluid flows carry too much momentum and

kinetic energy, which may cause damage to the surface.

The erosion of the pipelines by the coarse and hard particles increases rapidly when

the speed the circulation increases.

Noticeable conductivity enhancement is based on high particle concentration, which
leads to apparent increase in viscosity. The pressure drop in fluids (slurries) goes up

considerably due to the increase of viscosity.

The particles settle rapidly, forming a layer on the surface and reducing the heat

transfer capacity of the fluid.

If the circulation rate of the fluid is increased, sedimentation is reduced, but the
erosion of the heat transfer devices, pipelines, etc., increases rapidly.

29 | P a g e

The large size of the particles tends to clog the flow channels, particularly if the

cooling channels are narrow.

The pressure drop in the fluid increases considerably.
Conductivity enhancement based on particle concentration is achieved (i.e., the
greater the particle volume fraction is, the greater the enhancementand greater the
problems).

Due to these disadvantages of the liquid suspension of large particles, the method of
enhancing the thermal conductivity by adding solid particles is not a preferred.
Nanoparticles in base fluid :

Due to Nano size particles, pressure drop is minimum.

High thermal conductivity of nanoparticle increases the heat transfer rate.
Successfully employed Nano fluid will lead to lighter and smaller heat exchanger.
Heat transfer rate is increases due to large surface volume of nanoparticle in base

fluid.
Nano fluids are most suitable for rapid heating and cooling system.
Due to Nano size particle, fluid is considered as integral fluid.
The suspended nanoparticles increase the surface area and the heat capacity of the

fluid.
The suspended nanoparticles increase the effective (or apparent)thermal conductivity

of the fluid.
The interaction and collision among particles, fluid and the flow passage surface are

intensified.
The mixing fluctuation and turbulence of the fluid are intensified.

3.8 Properties of nanofluids :

When the particles are properly dispersed, these features of nanofluids are expected to give
the following benefits:
It may be noted that particle size is an important physical parameter in nanofluids because it
can be used to tailor the nanofluid thermal properties as well as the suspension stability of
nanoparticles. Researchers in nanofluids have been trying to exploit the unique properties of
nano particles to develop stable as well as highly conducting heat transfer fluids. The key
building blocks of nanofluids are nanoparticles; so research on nanofluids got accelerated
because of the development of nanotechnology in general and availability of nanoparticles in
particular. Compared to micro meter sized particles, nanoparticles possess high surface area
to volume ratio due to the occupancy of large number of atoms on the boundaries, which
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make them highly stable in suspensions. Thus the nano suspensions show high thermal
conductivity possibly due to enhanced convection between the solid particle and liquid
surfaces. Since the properties like the thermal conductivity of the nano sized materials are
typically an order of magnitude higher than those o fthe base fluids, nanofluids show
enhancement in their effective thermal properties. Due to the lower dimensions, the dispersed
nanoparticles can behave like a base fluid molecule in a suspension, which helps us to reduce
problems like particle clogging, sedimentation etc. found with micro particle suspensions.
The combination of these two features; extra high stability and high conductivity of the
dispersed nanospecies make them highly preferable for designing heat transfer fluids. The
stable suspensions of small quantities of nanoparticles will possibly help us to design lighter,
high performance thermal management systems.
Cooling is indispensable for maintaining the desired performance and reliability of a wide
variety of industrial products such as computers, power electronic circuits, car engines, high
power lasers, X-ray generators etc. With the unprecedented increase in heat loads and heat
fluxes caused by more power in miniaturized products, high tech industries such as
microelectronics, transportation, manufacturing, metrology and defence face cooling as one
of the top technical challenges. For example, the electronics industry has provided computers
with faster speeds, smaller sizes and expanded features, leading to ever increasing heat loads,
heat fluxes and localized hot spots at the chip and package levels. Such thermal problems are
also found in power electronics, optoelectronic devices etc. So the enhanced heat transfer
characteristics of nanofluids may offer the development of high performance, compact, cost
effective liquid cooling systems.
3.8.1 Higher heat conduction :
The large surface area of nanoparticles allows for more heat transfer. Particles finer than
20nm carry 20% of their atoms on their surface, making them instantaneously available for
thermal interaction. Another advantage is the mobility of the particles, attributable to the tiny
size, which may bring about micro-convection of fluid and hence increased heat transfer. The
micro-convection and increased heat transfer may also increase dispersion of heat in the fluid
at a faster rate. It is already found that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids increases
significantly with a rise in temperature, which may be attributed to the above reasons.
Nanofluids demonstrate higher thermal conductivities than the base fluid due to several
factors. The large surface area of nanoparticles per unit volume allows for more heat transfer
between solids particles and base fluids. Another advantage is that the high mobility of the
nanoparticles due to the tininess, which may introduce micro-convection of fluids to further
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stimulate heat transfer. The experimental enhancement in thermal conductivity has been
reported to be much greater than that predicted by considering solely the contribution of high
thermal conductivity of solids. Furthermore, it has been reported the thermal conductivity
enhancement in nanofluids increases significantly with rising temperature, which also
indicates a contribution of Brownian motion.
3.8.2 Stability:
Because the particles are small, they weigh less ,and the chances of sedimentation are also
less. This reduced sedimentation can overcome one of the major drawbacks of suspensions,
the settling of particles, and make the nanofluids more stable. Because the nanoparticles are
small, the particles are stably staying in the liquid phases for months or even years without
sedimentation. Brownian motion (the random thermally driven movement of particles
suspended in a fluid) can increase the stability of the suspension.
3.8.3 Microchannel cooling without clogging:
Nanofluids will not only be a better medium for heat transfer in general, but they will also be
ideal for micro-channel applications where high heat loads are encountered. The combination
of microchannels and nanofluids will provide both highly conducting fluid sand a large heat
transfer area. This cannot be attained with meso or micro-particles because they clog
microchannels. Nanoparticles, which are only a few hundreds or thousands of atoms, are
orders of magnitude smaller than the microchannels.
Nanoparticles are only composed of hundreds ort housands of atoms, about 1~ 100 nm in
diameter and are well-dispersed in nanofluids, so that they will not causing any clogging
problem. Nanofluids can therefore be used in micro-channels, which can further promote the
heat transfer rate by combining enhanced thermal conductivity of fluids and increased heat
transfer area.
3.8.4 Reduced chances of erosion:
Nanoparticles are very small, and the momentum they can impart to a solid wall is much
smaller. This reduced momentum reduces the chances of erosion of components, such as heat
exchangers, pipelines and pumps. Nanoparticles are very small and do not carry so much
momentum as their micro- or macro- counterparts, and thus the momentum and the kinetic
energy which they will impart to solid surfaces is small. Consequently the erosion of
components, such as pipelines, pumps and heat exchangers, will be greatly reduced.

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Furthermore it has been reported that nanoparticles dispersed in liquid phases reduce friction
and decrease wear.
3.8.5 Reduction in pumping power:
To increase the heat transfer of conventional fluid by a factor of two, pumping power must
usually be increased by a factor of ten. Due to the large specific surface area, nanoparticles
have demonstrated high effectiveness to enhance the thermal conductivity of fluids. It is
expected that much smaller concentrations of nanoparticles is required to achieve similar
enhancements in larger particle suspensions. Less material is needed so that the viscosity
increase is smaller ,and the pumping power required is also reduced. Meanwhile, the pump
power must goes up by tenfold in order to increase the heat transfer of conventional fluids by
a factor of two, but if the thermal conductivity of fluids is enhanced three times, the heat
transfer rate has already doubled. Thus, a large increase in thermal conductivity of fluids can
save lots of pumping power.

3.9 Thermal conductivity :

Nanofluids are composite materials and, therefore, any discussion of nanofluid thermal
conductivity must begin with effective medium theories. Effective medium theories were
introduced by Mossotti, Clausius, Maxwell, and Lorenz in the late 19th century, firmly
established with the work of Bruggeman, and thoroughly investigated and applied in many
fields of science and engineering since then. We begin our discussion with the simplest case
of spherical particles where interface effects are negligible. In other words, at this stage we do
not consider the finite thermal conductance of the particle/fluid interface. In the limit of a
small volume fraction of nanoparticles f all versions of the effective medium theory
converge to the same solution and, in the limit of high thermal conductivity particles, predict
that the nanofluids thermal conductivity enhancement will be 3f .Many of the results for
high concentrations of nanoparticles can also be understood based on effective medium
theory, if we allow for the possibility that the nanoparticles have clustered into small
aggregates. Since an aggregate of nanoparticles occupies more space than the individual
nanoparticles that make up the aggregate, the volume fraction of the aggregates is larger than
the volume fraction of nanoparticles.
A random close packing of spherical nanoparticles will have a relative density of
approximately 60%. So, if the nanoparticles have aggregated, we can expect an enhancement
in the thermal conductivity of approximately 3f/0.6, or 5f. Even larger enhancements are
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possible for more loosely packed clusters an enhancement in the thermal conductivity of
approximately 5f is often observed. The thermal conductivity of the aggregate will, of course,
be smaller than the thermal conductivity of each nanoparticle.
3.9.1 PARAMETERS EFFECTING THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF NANOFLUIDS
Experimental studies show that thermal conductivity of nanofluids depends on many factors
such as particle volume fraction, particle material, particle size, particle shape, base fluid
material, and temperature. Amount and types of additives and the acidity of the nanofluid
were also shown to be effective in the thermal conductivity enhancement.
3.9.1.1Particle Volume Fraction :
Particle volume fraction is a parameter that is investigated in almost all of the experimental
studies and the results are usually in agreement qualitatively. Most of the researchers report
increasing thermal conductivity with increasing particle volume fraction and the relation
found is usually linear. However, there are also some studies which indicate nonlinear
behaviour. According to the some authors, such a nonlinear relation is an indication of
interactions between particles. It was concluded that despite the fact that particle volume
fraction is very small, nanotubes interact with each other due to the very high particle
concentration (1011 particles/cm3)[13].

Figure 1 Relation between particle volume fraction and thermal conductivity of nanofluids

3.9.1.2 Particle Size :

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Particle size is another important parameter of thermal conductivity of nanofluids. It is

possible to produce nanoparticles of various sizes, generally ranging between 5 and 100 nm.
Eastman et al. concluded that the size of the nanoparticles is an important factor that affects
the thermal conductivity enhancement, which is contrary to the predictions of conventional
models such as Hamilton and Crosser model, which does not take the effect of particle size
on thermal conductivity into account.
The general trend in the experimental data is that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids
increases with decreasing particle size. This trend is theoretically supported by two
mechanisms of thermal conductivity enhancement; Brownian motion of nanoparticles and
liquid layering around nanoparticles. However, there is also a significant amount of
contradictory data in the literature that indicate decreasing thermal conductivity with
decreasing particle size. In fact, for the case of nanofluids with Aluminium oxide
nanoparticles, such results are more common than the results showing increasing thermal
conductivity with decreasing particle size.
3.9.1.3 Particle Material :
Most of the studies show that particle material is an important parameter that affects the
thermal conductivity of nanofluids. At first glance, it might be thought that the difference in
the thermal conductivities of particle materials is the main reason of this effect. However,
studies show that particle type may affect the thermal conductivity of nanofluids in other
ways. For example, Lee et al. considered the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with Al 2O3
and CuO nanoparticles and they found that nanofluids with CuO nanoparticles showed better
enhancement when compared to the nanofluids prepared using Al 2O3 nanoparticles. It should
be noted that Al2O3, as a material, has higher thermal conductivity than CuO. Therefore,
thermal conductivity of particle material may not be the dominant parameter that determines
the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. Effect of particle material is much more
pronounced when carbon nano-tubes are used for the preparation of nanofluids. Some authors
noted that such an anomalous enhancement might be due to the liquid nano-layers forming
around the nano-tubes. On the other hand, the fact that heat is transported ballistically inside
the nano-tubes improves the conduction of heat in the tubes, but the effect of this factor is not
dominant according to the authors.

3.9.1.4 Particle Shape :

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There are mainly two particle shapes used in nanofluid research; spherical particles and
cylindrical particles. Cylindrical particles usually have a large length-to-diameter ratio. Two
types of nanoparticles were used by Xie et al., for the preparation of nanofluids; spherical
particles with 26 nm average diameter and cylindrical particles with 600 nm average
diameter. It was found that 4.2 vol. % water-based nanofluid with spherical particles had at
thermal conductivity enhancement of 15.8%, whereas 4 vol. % nanofluid with cylindrical
particles had a thermal conductivity enhancement of 22.9%. In addition to these experimental
results, the fact that nanofluids with carbon nanotubes (which are cylindrical in
shape)generally show greater thermal conductivity enhancement than nanofluids with
spherical particles should also be considered. As a result, one can conclude that cylindrical
nanoparticles provide higher thermal conductivity enhancement than spherical particles. One
of the possible reasons of this is the rapid heat transport along relatively larger distances in
cylindrical particles since cylindrical particles usually have lengths on the order of
micrometers. However, it should be noted that nanofluids with cylindrical particles usually
have much larger viscosities than those with spherical nanoparticles. As a result, the
associated increase in pumping power is large and this reduces the feasibility of usage of
nanofluids with cylindrical particles.
3.9.1.5 Particle Material and Base Fluid :
Many different particle materials are used for nanofluid preparation. Al2O3, CuO, TiO2, SiC,
TiC, Ag, Au, Cu, and Fe nanoparticles are frequently used in nanofluid research. Carbon
nanotubes are also utilized due to their extremely high thermal conductivity in the
longitudinal(axial) direction. Base fluids mostly used in the preparation of nanofluids are the
common working fluids of heat transfer applications; such as, water, ethylene glycol and
engine oil. According to the conventional thermal conductivity models such as the Maxwell
model, as the base fluid thermal conductivity of a mixture decreases, the thermal conductivity
ratio nanofluid divided by the thermal conductivity of base fluid increases. It is seen that
poor conductive fluid serve best then highly conductive ones. Hence water is generally is
avoided. When it comes to nanofluids, the situation is more complicated due to the fact that
the viscosity of the base fluid affects the Brownian motion of nanoparticles and that in turn
affects the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid.

3.9.1.6 Temperature :
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In conventional suspensions of solid particles (with sizes on the order of millimetres or

micrometers) in liquids, thermal conductivity of the mixture depends on temperature only due
to the dependence of thermal conductivity of base liquid and solid particles on temperature.
However, in case of nanofluids, change of temperature affects the Brownian motion of
nanoparticles and clustering of nanoparticles, which results in dramatic changes of thermal
conductivity of nanofluids with temperature[13].

Figure 2 Relation between temperature and thermal conductivity of nanofluids having CuO
3.9.1.7 Effect of Acidity (PH) :
The number of studies regarding the pH value on the effect of fluid acidity on the thermal
conductivity enhancement of nanofluids is limited when compared to the studies regarding
the other parameters. A significant decrease in thermal conductivity ratio with increasing pH
values as reported in literature. It was also observed that the rate of change of thermal
conductivity with particle volume fraction was dependent on pH value. Thermal conductivity
enhancement of 5 vol. % Al2O3/water nanofluid was 23% when pH is equal to 2.0 and it
became 19% when pH is equal to 11.5. The authors related the dependence of thermal
conductivity on pH to the fact that as the difference between the is electric point of Al 2O3
nanoparticles and pH value of the solution increases, mobility of nanoparticles increases,
which improve the micro-convection effect. It is obtained optimum values of pH
(approximately 8.0 for Al2O3/water and 9.5 for Cu/water nanofluids) for maximum thermal
conductivity enhancement. At the optimum value of pH, surface charge of nanoparticles
increases, which creates repulsive forces between nanoparticles. As a result of this effect,
severe clustering of nanoparticles is prevented(excessive clustering may result in
sedimentation, which decreases thermal conductivity enhancement).
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3.10 Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluids :

As mentioned above, thermal conductivity is the most important parameter that decides the
heat transfer performance of a nanofluid. Thus, researchers have tried to achieve higher
enhancements in effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids by varying the nanoparticle
volume fraction, nanoparticle size, nanoparticle shape, temperature, the host fluid type as
well as the ultrasonication time required for preparing nanofluids. For all these measurements
researchers have followed either a two step or a single step method for the preparation of
nanofluids. They have employed experimental techniques such as the transient hot wire
method and the steady state method for the measurement of the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids. Other methods such as temperature oscillation method and hot strip method are
seldom used for thermal conductivity measurements.
3.10.1 The Transient hotwire technique :
The THW technique was introduced in 1974[11] . It is the most popular dynamic method. In
this technique, a cylindrical fluid volume is heated electrically using a current-carrying
metallic wire stretched along the axis of the fluid volume. The differential temperature rise of
the wire is calculated based on the changes in the electrical resistance of the wire at different
times and then plotting it against the natural logarithm of the time. This plot is expected to
have a linear region, from the slope of which the thermal conductivity of the fluid can be
calculated.
The transient hot wire (THW) method to measure the thermal conductivity of nanofluids has
got established itself as an accurate, reliable and robust technique. The method consists of
determining the thermal conductivity of a selected material/fluid by observing the rate at
which the temperature of a very thin platinum wire of diameter (5-80 m) increases with time
after a step voltage has been applied to it. The platinum wire is embedded vertically in the
fluid, which serves as a heat source as well as a thermometer. The temperature of the
platinum wire is established by measuring its electrical resistance using a Wheatstones
bridge, which is related to the temperature through a well-known relationship.

The advantages of the THW method are[28] :

1. Capability of the experimentally eliminating convective error
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2. Fast measurement time compared with other techniques

3. Obtaining reliable data
Because in general nanofluids are electrically conductive, it is difficult to apply the ordinary
THW technique directly. A modified hot-wire cell and electrical system was proposed by
Nagasaka and Nagashima[6] by coating the hot wire with an epoxy adhesive which has
excellent electrical insulation and heat conduction.
3.10.2 The steady state technique :
In the steady state method (SSM), a thin layer of the fluid with unknown thermal conductivity
is subjected to a constant heat flux. The layer has one dimension thickness very small
compared to the other dimensions, so that the one-dimensional Fourier equation can be used
to define the heat flow in the system. By measuring the temperature on both sides of this
layer the thermal conductivity of the liquid can be determined. Many steady state thin layer
experimental systems have been developed for the determination of thermal conductivity of
fluids including nanofluids. Among them the co-axial cylinders method is probably the best
steady state technique for the determination of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The
major advantages of this method are the simplicity of its design and the short response time
of the measuring procedure.
By this method the thermal conductivity measurement is possible with an accuracy of 0.1%.
This method is applicable to electrically conducting liquids as well as toxic and chemically
aggressive substances. The apparatus built for measurements based on this technique include
two co-axial aluminium cylinders with different diameters and lengths. The region between
the two cylinders is filled with the liquid of unknown thermal conductivity. Both ends of the
system are well insulated, ensuring no heat loss from the ends.
An electrical heater is inserted at the middle of the inner cylinder, fitting well in the hole
drilled for this purpose. Then the simultaneous recording of the temperature of the layers is
possible with the help of temperature sensors having high accuracy positioned on either side
of the layer.

3.10.3 Transient plane source :

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TPS method is the modified version of THW technique for heat transfer measurements. TPS
unit works using temperature coefficient of nickel sensor resistance. The bath temperature
value can match with temperature of sample near the sensor. This helps in measuring precise
thermal conductivity values at exact temperatures. Many materials have different thermal
conductivity values at different temperatures so precise measurement of the thermal
conductivity at certain temperatures minimizes the uncertainty. The TPS element behaves
both as the temperature sensor and the heat source. The TPS method uses the Fourier law of
heat conduction as a fundamental principle for measuring the thermal conductivity. The
thermal conductivity of the nanofluid is determined by measuring the resistance of the probe.
Advantages of using this method are
(1) fast measurements,
(2) measurements in wide ranges of thermal conductivities
(3) no need to sample preparation
(4) flexible sample sizes.
3.10.4 Temperature oscillation technique :
Temperature Oscillation was introduced by Santucci and co-workers[33]. It consists of filling
a cylindrical volume with the fluid. The thermal conductivity is measured by applying an
oscillating temperature boundary condition at the two ends of the cylinder. By measuring the
amplitude and phase of the temperature oscillation, the fluid thermal conductivity could be
calculated[29]. The simplicity of the temperature oscillation technique makes it more
appealing.
3.10.5 Optical methods :
Optical methods have been proposed as non-invasive techniques for thermal conductivity
measurements to improve accuracy. Indeed, because the hot wire is a combination of heater
and thermometer, interference is unavoidable. In optical techniques, detector and heater are
always separated from each other providing potentially more accurate data. Additionally,
measurements are completed within several microseconds, i.e., much shorter than reported
THW measurement times of 2 to 8 s, so that natural convection effects are avoided .

3.10.6 Theoretical models for thermal conductivity of nanofluids :

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For the past one and half decades there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the
anomalous enhancement in thermal conductivity observed in several types of nanofluids. This
is mainly due to the fact that in several experimental results reported in literature, the
observed enhancements in thermal conductivity are far more than those predicted by the wellestablished mean field models. Even in the case of the same nanofluid system, enhancements
reported by different groups have shown wide differences. The conventional mean filed
models such as the Maxwell-Garnett model, Hamilton-Crosser model as well as Bruggemann
model were originally derived for solid mixtures and then to relatively large solid particle
suspensions. But, these models have been derived from standard reference models for
effective thermal conductivity of mixtures. Therefore, it is questionable whether these models
are able to predict the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Nevertheless, these
models are utilized frequently due to their simplicity in the study of nanofluids to compare
theoretical and experimental values of thermal conductivity.

3.11 Mechanisms of Heat Transfer Improvement :

Apart from the basic reason of improvement in thermal conductivity in nano fluids, thev
suspension of nano particles alters the flow behaviour in general. Following section describes
several of the proposed mechanisms.
3.11.1 Enhancement of heat transfer by improvement in thermal conductivity :
Liquid molecules close to a solid surface are known to form layered structures. The layered
molecules are in an intermediate physical state between a solid and bulk liquid. With these
solid like liquid layers, the nanofluid structure consists of solid nanoparticles, solid-like liquid
layer, and a bulk liquid. The solid-like nanolayer acts as a thermal bridge between a solid
nanoparticle and a bulk liquid and so is key to enhancing thermal conductivity.
Macroscopically, the forced convective heat transfer coefficient, h, is given by h = K f /t, with
t representing the local thickness of thermal boundary layer and K f the local effective
thermal conductivity of nanofluids adjacent to the wall surface. This simple expression
indicates that either an increase in K f and a decrease in t, or both, can result in an increase of
the convective heat transfer coefficient. This explains why the entrance region gives a higher
convective heat transfer coefficient. As nanofluids have a higher thermal conductivity in
comparison with the base liquid, the simple expression also partially explains the enhanced
convective heat transfer coefficient. The expression, however, cannot provide an adequate
explanation of the experimental observations that, in some cases, the convective heat transfer
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efficient enhancement is much higher than the thermal conduction enhancement, while
another cases, there is no convective heat transfer enhancement despite considerable thermal
conduction enhancement, e.g. aqueous-based nano-diamond and ethylene-glycol-based titania
nanofluids. Microscopically, nanofluids are inhomogeneous. There are at least two possible
reasons for the in homogeneity. One is the presence of agglomerates in nanofluids, which can
be associated with either sintering during nanoparticle manufacturing or solution chemistry
during nanofluids formulation. The latter is due to the attraction between nanoparticles, e.g.
van-der Waals attractive force and depletion phenomena. The agglomerates (aggregates) can
be controlled by adjusting the solution chemistry and applying shear. The second reason is
particle migration due to viscosity and velocity gradients. Experimental evidence of particle
migration is, If particles are very small, Brownian motion is strong and the effect of the
above-mentioned particle migration is negligible. If particles are large, e.g. aggregates of
hundreds of nanometres, the contribution of the Brownian motion is small, and a particle
depletion region may exist at the wall region, which gives non-uniform distributions of
particle concentration, viscosity and thermal conductivity. The direct results of particle
migration are lower particle concentration at the wall region and a thinner boundary thickness
due to disturbance by the moving particles. This, according to h = Kf /t, can lead to three
possible scenarios: (i) h is enhanced if the decrease in t exceeds the decrease in Kf; (ii) h does
not change if the decrease in tis equal to the decrease in K f; and (iii) h is reduced if the
decrease in t is lower than the decrease in K f. This qualitatively explains the experimental
results. However, quantitative explanation requires understanding of how nanoparticles
behave under shear and how they interact with each other and with fluid in the boundarylayer.
3.11.2 Effect of Brownian Motion :
It is a seemingly random movement of particles suspended in a liquid or gas and the motion
is due to collisions with base fluid molecules, which makes the particles undergo randomwalk motion. Thus, the Brownian motion intensifies with an increase in temperature as per
the kinetic theory of particles. Some researchers, have suggested that the potential mechanism
for enhancement of thermal conductivity is the transfer of energy due to the collision of
higher temperature particles with lower ones. The effectiveness of the Brownian motion
decreases with an increase in the bulk viscosity.

3.11.3 Thermophoresis :

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Thermophoresis is a phenomenon observed when a mixture of two or more types of motile

particles (particles able to move) is subjected to the force of a temperature gradient. The
phenomenon is most significant in a natural convection process, where the flow is driven by
buoyancy and temperature. The particles travel in the direction of decreasing temperature and
the process of heat transfer increases with a decrease in the bulk density.
3.11.4 Intensification of turbulence :
Xuan and Li proposed that the enhancement could also come from intensification of
turbulence due to the presence of the nanoparticles. However, pressure drop measurements by
Xuan and Li, Pak and Cho clearly show that turbulent friction factors in their nanofluids can
be very well predicted by the traditional friction factor correlations for pure fluids, if the
measured nanofluid viscosity is used. This suggests that, beyond the obvious viscosity effect,
turbulence is not affected by the presence of the nanoparticles. This conclusion is
corroborated by a comparison of the time and length scales for the nanoparticles and the
turbulent eddies.
3.11.5 Clustering of nanoparticles :
Nanoparticles are known to form clusters. These clusters can be handled by using fractal
theory. Evans et al. proposed that clustering can result in fast transport of heat along
relatively large distances since heat can be conducted much faster by solid particles when
compared to liquid matrix. This phenomenon is illustrated schematically in below.

3.12 CASE STUDY :

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Dispersions of oxide nanoparticles in water are the first batch of nanofluids that have been
investigated. In 1993, Masuda et al[12] dispersed Al 2O3nanoparticles of 13 nm in diameter
into water with a volume fraction up to 4.3%, and obtained an enhancement in thermal
conductivity of 30%.

Figure 3 Effective thermal conductivity of water-Al2O3 nanofluid

Eastman et al[18] also reported an enhancement of 30% in thermal conductivity in water
suspensions of Al2O3 nanoparticles with an average diameter is 33 nm, at a volume fraction of
5%.
Wang et al[23] studied the effects of synthesis process on the thermal conductivity of water
based nanofluids containing Al2O3 nanoparticles. They found the dispersion techniques have
no obvious effect on the measured thermal conductivity enhancements, while the addition of
polymeric surfactants would decrease the thermal conductivity. The reason is that although
the addition of surfactants makes nanoparticles better dispersed, polymer molecules coating
onto the surface of nanoparticles actually increase the interfacial thermal resistance.
Eastman et al[18] studied the thermal conductivity enhancement of water dispersions of
36nm CuO nanoparticles, and found the enhancement increase is linearly proportional to the
particle concentration. The thermal conductivity enhancement was measured as
approximately 60% at a CuO nanoparticle concentration of 5 vol.%, significantly higher than
the 30% enhancement measured in Al2O3-in-water nanofluids at the same concentration. This
is due to the fact that CuO has a higher intrinsic thermal conductivity than that of Al 2O3. Lee
et al[24] also obtained similar results with their nanofluids of CuO particles in both water and
ethylene glycol. They found greater enhancements in CuO nanofluids than those in Al 2O3
nanofluids.
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TiO2 nanoparticles have also been used in nanofluids. Murshed at al measured the thermal
conductivity of aqueous nanofluids containing both spherical and cylindrical TiO 2
nanoparticles. He found that nanofluids containing 15 nm spherical nanoparticles showed
slightly lower enhancements than those containing 40 nm by 10 nm nanorods. As high as
33% enhancement was achieved in nanofluids containing 5 vol.% of TiO 2 cylindrical
nanorods.

Figure 4 Enhancement of thermal conductivity of TiO2deionized water

nanofluids with CTAB surfactant.
Pak and Cho dispersed 27nm TiO2 nanoparticles into water to make nanofluids. The thermal
conductivity enhancement was measured to be 10.7% at a TiO2 concentration of 4.35%, much
lower than the 32% enhancement of Al2O3 nanofluids at the same concentration of solid
particles. The reason is that thermal conductivity of Al2O3 is higher than that of TiO2.
Metallic nanoparticles have much higher thermal conductivity than oxides, therefore
theoretically much lower concentrations of metallic nanoparticles is needed in order to
achieve the same level of thermal conductivity enhancement., up to 45% enhancement in
thermal conductivity has been observed through the addition of less than 0.055 vol.% of35
nm Cu particles into pump oil.
Eastman et al[22] also found 40% thermal conductivity enhancement in EG containing less
than 0.3vol.% Cu nanoparticles.
Xuan et al[17] prepared nanofluids by directly mixing Cu nanopowders with water and oils.
The nanofluids they measured were much more concentrated than those measured by
Eastman et al., however, the thermal conductivity enhancement is comparable. At a Cu
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nanoparticle concentration of 7.5vol.%, they were able to obtain 75% and 45% enhancements
in water and transformer oil based nanofluids, respectively.
Nanofluids containing gold and silver nanoparticles have also been produced and measured.
The enhancement in the thermal conductivity has been observed to increase as temperature
rises. At a temperature of 60C, the enhancement in thermal conductivity was found to be
8.8% in toluene nanofluids at a Au nanoparticle concentration of 0.011vol.%. Though Ag has
a higher thermal conductivity than gold(429 W/mK for Ag and 317 W/mK for Au), Ag
nanofluids exhibit smaller thermal conductivity enhancement than the Au nanofluids. The
reason lies in that Ag nanoparticles dispersed in water was an order of magnitude larger than
gold nanoparticle sdispersed in water and toluene.
Hong et al[33] dispersed10 nm Fe nanoparticles into ethylene glycol and measured the
thermal conductivity enhancement in order to study the effects of both ultrasonication time
and storage time. An enhancement in thermal conductivity of approximate 18% was found at
a concentration of 0.55 vol.%. It is much lower compared to the results of Eastman obtained
in Cu nanofluids, and it is due the lower thermal conductivity of Fe.
The greatest thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids so far was observed in carbon
nanotubes in PAO nanofluids. A thermal conductivity enhancement of up to 160% has been
observed at a CNTs loading of 1 vol.%. Theoretical and experimental research has already
disclosed that CNTs have longitudinal thermal conductivities of more than 3000
W/mK(Berber et al. 2000), close to that of diamond and over an order of magnitude higher
than that of oxides and metals. Actually, CNTs have been used fo rdecades in composites to
increase the thermal conductivity of solid materials.
Biercuk et al[21] reported a 70% thermal conductivity enhancement in their industrial epoxy
by adding 1 wt % unpurified SWCNTs. Nanofluids containing CNTs, based on oils, glycols
or water; however, they have not found comparably extraordinary results as those of Chois.

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Figure 5 Enhancement in thermal conductivity relative to pristine epoxy as a function of

SWNT and VGCF loading.
Xie et al[20] dispersed spherical SiC particles with an average diameter of 26 nm (SiC-26)
and cylindrical SiC particles with an average diameter of 600 nm (SiC-600) into distilled
water (DI-H2O) and ethylene glycol (EG) separately at volume fractions up to 4.2 vol.%. For
SiC-26 in DI-H2O suspension, the thermal conductivity can be increased by about15.8% at a
volume fraction of 4.2%. For SiC-600 in DI-H2O, the thermal conductivity can be increased
by 22.9% at a volume fraction of 4%.

Figure 6 Enhancement of the thermal

conductivities of SiC-26 suspensions.

Figure 7 Enhanced thermal conductivities

of suspensions containing SiC-600.

According to research articles, it seems that particle materials, particle size, operating
temperature, the thermal conductivity or even the pH value of aqueous base fluids have
47 | P a g e

impact on the thermal conductivity enhancement in nanofluids. Das et al[25] were the first
group who studied the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity enhancement in
nanofluids. By dispersing Al2O3 nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 38 nm in water, they
made nanofluids with concentrations from 1 to 4 vol.% and then they measured the thermal
conductivity of these nanofluids at varying temperatures from 21 C to 51 C. They found that
as the temperature rose, the enhancement in thermal conductivity was also linearly increased
depending on the concentration of nanoparticles. Xie et al[20] even reported that 32 the pH
value of the base fluid as well as the nanoparticle size affected the thermal conductivity
enhancement of Al2O3 in water, ethylene glycol, and pump oil nanofluids. It seems that the
thermal conductivity enhancement decreases with increasing pH value and as the thermal
conductivity of the base fluid increases, the enhancement decreases. Prasher et al. [29] found
a maximum enhancement of 100% at 85 C for10 nm Al 2O3 nanoparticles in water at a
concentration of only 0.5 vol. Another very interesting study was carried out by Patel et al.
[25] by suspending naked and polymer monolayer-coated gold and silver nanoparticles of 10
to 20 nm in water and toluene. At extremely low concentrations of below 0.011% for gold
and0.001% for silver, they were able to demonstrate a 3% to 10% thermal conductivity
enhancement and a strong temperature dependence of such enhancements as well.
Li and Peterson[17] blended CuO and Al2O3 nanoparticles with area diameters of 29 nm and
36 nm into distilled water at different volume fractions from 2% to 10%. Thermal transport
properties were measured at temperatures from 27.5 oC to 34.7 oC. Their results showed that
the thermal conductivity of nanoparticles, particle size, volume fraction and the temperature
all had a significant impact on the effective thermal conductivity of the as-prepared
nanofluids. At 34 oC, water suspension of 6 vol.% CuO nanoparticles showed enhanced
thermal conductivity which is 1.52 times that of pure distilled water, while suspension of 10
vol.% Al2O3 nanoparticles increased the thermal conductivity by a factor of 1.3.

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3.13 PROBLEMS AND DRAWBACKS

3.13.1 Knowledge in atomic levels :
According to Eastman, although the potential for the use of Nanofluids in a wide range of
applications is promising, a seriously hindering fact in development of the fields and
applications is that a detailed atomic-level understanding of the mechanism(s) responsible for
the observed property changes remains elusive. In the absence of this treasury of knowledge
people rely on few simplistic models and in some cases large discrepancies between
prediction and measurement remains a secret.
3.13.2 Toxicity and disposal problems :
Nanoparticles like silicon are extremely health threatening and presence of these particles in
aquatic environment will severely endanger life of humans and animals through digestion and
inhalation of these contaminants. There for some issues regarding the use of Nanofluids in a
power plant system include the unpredictability of the amount of nanoparticles that are
carried away by the boiling vapour. One other concern is what extra safety measures that
have to be taken in the disposal of the Nanofluid.
3.13.3 Erosion and abrasion :
In the light of advantages of Nanoparticles over micros particles, still abrasion and erosion
problems issues exist with these extremely fine particles. In particular, consideration of
possible chemical reactions and oxidation with materials of the media (walls and the fluid
base) must be carefully accounted for. As a practical measure, Wong and Leon refer to the
fact that application of Nanofluid coolant to boiling water reactors (BWR) is predicted to be
minimal because nanoparticle carryover to the turbine and condenser would raise erosion and
fouling concerns.
3.13.4 Cost inhibition :
Associate cost of integration of gold in water as a Nanofluid with volume fraction loading of
0.011%vol for a system containing 200 milliliter of the fluid will be $40351. As another
instance, the price of 200 milliliter of a 1% volumetrically loaded water-carbon nanotube
fluid will be $65002. In the view of the author of this paper, insurability about cost
effectiveness besides technical aspects explained above will confine the development of
systems to laboratory scale experiments and prototypes still for a considerable time.

49 | P a g e

CONCLUSION
Nanofluid cooling has variety of application in power generation, industrial, information
technology, and business sections. Promising advantages of Nanofluids through enhancement
of heat transfer have been summarized as efficiency and safety boos in power generation,
product size, cost and waste reduction, product quality and aesthetic improvement, energy
consumption and emission reduction, faster communication and computation and ultimately
in one word prosperity of the society. Besides research and communication not only will
invaluably advance the science but will also bring the researcher form different parts of the
word closer together for an enjoyable participation and collaboration.
Finally dangerous and many unknown sides of the Nanofluids utilization must be addressed
to ensure about impressive role of this advanced technology in driving the life on planet earth
towards more prosperity. This end will be met thorough years of extensive research and
development of models, experiments and patents.Nanofluids have a bright future to be used
as an effective heat transfer fluids,nanofluids with relatively small concentration of solid
particle can give meaningful enhancement of convective heat transfer coefficient the
enhancement of heat transfer convective coefficient compared to the base fluids: 6-10% for
1% particles concentration and 7-17% for 4% particles concentration .The use of Al2O3
nanoparticles as dispersed in water can enhance the convective heat transfer coefficient in the
turbulent regime and the enhancement increase with Reynolds number, particles volume
concentration, and temperature as well under the condition of experiment.

Heat transfer rate increases with increasing concentration of nanoparticle.

Heat transfer rate is directly proportional to the Reynolds number and peclet number

of Nano fluid.
The fine grade of Nano particles increases the heat transfer rate but its having poor

stability.
Clustering and collision of nanoparticles is main factor to affect the heat transfer rate

of Nano fluid.
Concentration of nanoparticles increases the pressure drop of Nano fluid.
Spherical shaped nanoparticles increases the heat transfer rate of Nano fluid compared
with other shaped nanoparticles.

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50 | P a g e

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