Enhancing thermal behavior of SiC nanopowder and SiC/Water nanofluid by using cryogenic treatment

Deep Cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a cooling treatment which may be applied to materials at a low temperature of −196 °C, and in the present work is subjected to Silicon carbide nanopowder. Thermal diffusivity of SiC before and after cryogenic treatment is measured using the flash method. Thermal conductivity of SiC nanopowders is also determined. The result shows that there is a drastic improvement of 33% of thermal diffusivity and 45% of thermal conductivity of SiC nanopowder due to DCT. The thermal conductivity for the SiC/Water nanofluid is also determined. The result shows that the thermal conductivity is enhanced by dispersing conventional and cryogenically treated SiC nanopowder with water. Brownian motion of nano particles is responsible for the enhancement of thermal conductivity.