A study on heat transfer characteristics of spherical and fibrous alumina nanofluids

Ethylene glycol based nanofluids containing spherical/fibrous alumina nanoparticles were synthesized by pulsed wire evaporation and hydrolysis methods. The crystallographic and morphological properties of the prepared nanoparticles were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen gas adsorption and transmission electron microscopy. The average diameter of spherical alumina nanoparticles was about 80 nm and the alumina nanofibers exhibited a high aspect ratio (length/width). The viscosity and thermal conductivity of the spherical/fibrous alumina nanofluids were experimentally measured in the temperature range from 25 to 80 °C. For the fibrous alumina nanofluid, the increase of temperature raised thermal conductivity but lowered viscosity. On the other hand, for the spherical alumina nanofluid, both thermal conductivity and viscosity were decreased with increasing temperature. In particular, the fibrous alumina nanofluid exhibited a higher enhancement of thermal conductivity than the spherical one due to the well-connected structure between entangled nanofibers with high aspect ratio.