A novel approach for thermal conductivity improvement of metal oxide nanofluids

The influence of metal oxide nanoparticles such as copper oxide, magnesium oxide, and titanium dioxide on the thermal behavior of water/ethylene glycol heat transfer fluid through experimental evidence is the focus of the present study. The nanofluids used in this experimental work are prepared by two-step chemical method. The incorporation percentage of nanoparticles lies between 0.25 and 1.25% on volume basis. The KD2 pro thermal conductivity analyzer with uncertainty error ± 0.04% was employed for the precise measurement of thermal conductivity of selected nanofluids. During measurement, the temperature was wide-ranging between 26 and 32 °C. The titanium dioxide and magnesium oxide addition with copper oxide- water/ethylene glycol resulted in 0.85% and 0.62% rise in thermal conductivity respectively as evident from the experimental results. The cluster of magnesium oxide with copper oxide was the critical issue for the small increase in thermal conductivity enhancement as compared with titanium dioxide. This happens only at volume fractions above 1%. But the average thermal conductivity improvement was 32.4% at volume fraction below 1% in case of magnesium oxide addition with copper oxide–water/ethylene glycol.