Experimental investigation of thermo-physical properties of tri-hybrid nanoparticles in water-ethylene glycol mixture

In recent years, research focused on enhancing the thermo-physical properties of a single component nanofluid. Therefore, hybrid or composite nanofluids are developed to improve heat transfer performance. The thermo-physical properties of the Al2O3-TiO2-SiO2 nanoparticles suspended in the base of water (W) and ethylene glycol (EG) blends with vol 60:40, many volume concentrations are investigated. The experiment was conducted for the concentration volume of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% of Al2O3-TiO2-SiO2 nanofluids with temperature conditions of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C. Thermal conductivity measurements and dynamic viscosity are carried out at temperatures ranging from 30-70 °C by using KD2 Pro Thermal Properties Analyzer and Brookfield LVDV III Ultra Rheometer respectively. The highest thermal conductivity for tri-hybrid nanofluids was obtained at 0.3% and the maximum increase was up to 9% higher than the base fluid (EG/W). Tri-hybrid nanofluids with a concentration of 0.05% give the lowest effective thermal conductivity of 4.8% at 70°C. Meanwhile, the evidence from the dynamic viscosity of the tri-hybrid nanofluids is influenced by concentration and temperature. Furthermore, tri-hybrid nanofluids behaviour as Newtonian fluid in volume concentration from 0.05-3.0%. The properties enhancement ratio (PER) informed that tri-hybrid nanofluids will aid in heat transfer for the temperature range studied with all concentrations. The development of new correlation for thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of tri-hybrid nanofluids have been found to be precise. As a conclusion, the combination of enhancement in thermal conductivity and a dynamic viscosity at a concentration of 0.3% has optimum conditions, which have more advantages for heat transfer than other concentrations.