Thermal conductivity enhancement of ethylene glycol based nanofluids

There has been a tremendous research going on in the field of nanofluids containing metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. Appreciable enhancements in thermal conductivity have been achieved in recent years. This paper presents a new study of nanofluids comprising nanofibers as previous studies are mostly based on nanofluids containing nanoparticles. Transient hot-wire method is used for thermal conductivity measurements of ethylene glycol based nanofluids. Nanofluids prepared via two-step method by dispersing TiO2 and CuO nanoparticles and CdTiO3 nanofibers in ethylene glycol. Maximum thermal conductivity enhancements are achieved for CuO nanoparticles. Maximum thermal conductivity enhancement of 13.3% and 8.6% achieved for TiO2 and CuO nanoparticles while 10.2% for CdTiO3 nanofibers. The Experimental results are then compared with the theoretical models to estimate the effect of particle shape and concentration on thermal conductivity enhancement.