A Study on Thermal Conductivity Characteristics of Nanofluids

나노유체 열전도도 특성 연구

Nanofluid is a kind of new engineering material consisting of nanoparticles dispersed in base fluid. Nanofluids could have various applications such as magnetic fluids, heat exchanger working fluids, lubricants, drug delivery and so on in present study, various nanoparticles, such as MWCNT (Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube), fullerene, copper oxide, and silicon dioxide are used to produce nanofluids. As base fluids, DI-water, ethylene glycol, oil, and silicon oil are used. To investigate the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids, thermal conductivity and kinematic viscosity are measured. Stability estimation of nanofluid is conducted with UV-vis spectrophoto-meter. In this study, the high pressure homogenizer is the most effective method to produce nanofluid with the prepared nanoparticle and base fluid. Excellently stable nanofluids are produced with the magnetron sputtering system. Thermal conductivity of nanofluid increases with increasing particle volume fraction except water-based fullerene nanofluid which has lower thermal conductivity than base fluid due to its lower thermal conductivity, 0.4 W/mK. The experimental results can't be predicted by Jang and Choi model.