Thermophysical properties of water ethylene glycol (WEG) mixture-based Fe3O4 nanofluids at low concentration and temperature

Abstract In the present work, Fe3O4 nanoparticles produced by the ultrasonic precipitation method and characterized by XRD, SEM, and BET methods are used to produce nanofluids using a mixture of water and ethylene glycol (WEG 50:50) as a base fluid and both sodium dodecyl sulfonate and oleic acid as surfactants. The thermal conductivity, dynamic viscosity and surface tension of these Fe3O4 nanofluids are experimentally evaluated for temperatures ranging from 253.15 to 293.15 K and different volume concentrations of nanoparticles, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1% respectively. Experiments indicate that the thermophysical properties of nanofluids are strongly dependant on concentrations of nanoparticles and temperatures, particularly at sub-zero temperatures. Actually, it is shown that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids increases with almost 9.5%, and 14.3%, at 263.15 K and 293.15 K respectively, with 0.1 vol%. The thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids with concentration and temperature is compared to some relevant theoretical models. A good agreement is achieved with a comprehensive model taking into consideration effective medium theory, the nanolayer effect of molecules around the solid particle, Brownian motion of nanoparticles encompassing aggregation and nano-convection. It is also found that the dynamic viscosity of nanofluids decreases with nanoparticle content in particular below 273.15 K, up to 40% at 0.1% in volume. Surface tension decreases by adding the surfactant to the base fluid and then increases with Fe3O4 concentration with nearly 38% and 33% with 0.1% in nanoparticle volume fraction at 253.15 and 293.15 K, respectively. Finally, these results are promising in view of Fe3O4 nanofluids use in cooling applications.