Influence of Base Fluid on the Thermo-Physical Properties of Hybrid (Fe3O4 + SiC) Nanofluids

In the present work, experiments are performed to determine the effect of the base fluid when spiked with very low volume fraction of Hybrid (mixture of Fe3O4 and SiC) nanoparticles on the thermo-physical properties like specific heat, density, viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The volume percentage of nanoparticles suspended in the base fluids are 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08. Three different base fluids, viz., Distilled Water (DW), a mixture of Ethylene Glycol–Water in the volume ratios of 20:80 and 40:60 (20:80 EG-W and 40:60 EG-W) are considered in the analysis. The effect of temperature on the properties is also studied. For the range of volume concentration considered, there was observed to be a negligible variation in the density and specific heat of the nanofluids compared to that of respective base fluids. However, there is significant variation in the thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluids. 20:80 EG-W based nanofluids exhibited higher enhancements in thermal conductivity and viscosity. Prandtl number of Hybrid nanofluids decreased as the nanoparticle concentration increased indicating the increase in heat transfer penetration compared to momentum penetration which is a favorable condition for enhancement of heat transfer rate.