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EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND MULTIWALLED CARBON NANOTUBES
CONCENTRATION ON THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER BASE
NANOFLUID
MOHIT THAKUR
1
, D. GANGACHARYULU
2
& GURPREET SINGH
3
1,3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab, India
2
Chemical Engineering Department, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
Nanofluids can be used as the heat transfer fluid due to itsexceptional thermal properties. The paper
investigated the various thermophysical of MWCNT-water nanofluid, when dispersed in water at various temperatures
and particle concentration. The nanofluids are prepared by two-step method with gum arabicused as a surfactant to
provide strength to the nanoparticles in base fluid. The thermophysical properties were measured using different volume
concentrations (0 – 0.8 vol. %) of nanoparticles at various temperatures (30°C to 70°C). KD2 Pro Thermal Property
Analyser, Differential Scanning Calorimeter, KEM-DA 130N - Portable density meter, Brookfield LVDV-III ultra-
programmable viscometer devices were used for the measurement of thermal conductivity, specific heat, density, viscosity
respectively. The density, viscosity and thermal conductivityincreases as MWCNT’s concentrationincreases, on the other
hand specific heat was found to decline with particle concentration. Similarly, the thermal conductivity and specific heat
increases with a rise in temperature whereas the viscosity and density decreases.
KEYWORDS: Thermo physical Properties, Nanofluids & MWCNT
Received: Jun 09, 2017; Accepted: Jul 04, 2017; Published: Jul 18, 2017; Paper Id: IJMPERDAUG201716
INTRODUCTION
The increase in demand is due to the over exploitation of energy resources leading to rise of advancement
techniques in various thermal systems. The most vital component in any energy efficient machine is its thermal
system and the heat transfer fluid used in it. The conventional heat transfer fluids like ethylene glycol and water
possesses poor thermal properties when used for cooling and heating applications. Due to its poor thermal
properties, an establishment of different heat transfer fluid [1] comprises of a base fluid and a dispersed phase.
Nanofluids are the dispersed nanoparticles in the base fluid; it had drawn a lot of kindness as potential heat
transfer fluids due to their high thermal conductivity than that of the base fluid [2]. An increase in the thermal
conductivity of the solid particles when dispersed in the liquid mixture was first proposed by Maxwell [3]. These
nanofluids possesses large thermal conductivity and long-time stability at low particle concentration. An
enhancement of 20% in thermal conductivity was recorded by Lee et al. [4] when suspended CuO nanoparticles of
4% volume and 35-nm CuO particles in ethylene glycol. Over the years, we have been using numerous
nanoparticles like Al
2
O
3
, CuO, Al, Cu, SiO
2
, carbon nanotubes etc. Among these various nanoparticles, carbon
nanotubes (CNT) is a best choice due to its outstanding and exclusive properties like high thermal conductivity of
2000-3000 W/m-K and high aspect ratio [5]. Choi et al. [6] examined an increment of 160% in thermal
conductivity, when 1% of carbon nanotubes are discharged in engine oil. Das et al. [7] performed an experiment in
Original Article
International Journal of Mechanical and Production
Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD)
ISSN (P): 2249-6890; ISSN (E): 2249-8001
Vol. 7, Issue 4, Aug 2017, 151-160
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