Publication Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Shelton, John

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

LCSH

Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A nanofluid is a generally considered to be base fluid that contains nanoparticle suspensions, where the nanoparticles could either be metals, metal oxides, or non-metals. Rheological properties of nanofluids play an important role in determining heat transfer capacity and pumping power of a fluid as they have the potential to improve heat transfer capacity and pumping power over a base fluid. This research can give us a clear understanding of how particle concentration and type of nanoparticle affect the viscosity of a nanofluid, which is the main parameter that influences the rheological properties of a fluid based on range of shear rates for various concentrations. Nanoparticles used for the experimentation are Al₂O₃ (5 nm) and TiO₂ (5 nm) with paraffin oil (white, CAS No: 8020-83-5) as the base fluid. Nanofluids containing single and mixture of nanoparticles at 0.2--1.5 % volumetric concentrations are prepared using two step method with a sonication time of 12 hours and viscosity is measured using Brookfield Dv2T rotational viscometer with a cone (CPA-40Z) and plate apparatus. Results show that the Newtonian behavior exhibited by the base fluid changes to a non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior upon addition of nanoparticles and the viscosity increases with increasing the particle concentration. Viscosity of Al₂O₃ nanofluids was higher than the viscosity of TiO₂ nanofluids and the viscosity of hybrid nanofluids was lower than Al₂O₃ nanofluids but higher than TiO₂ nanofluids at lower concentrations, this trend follows up to 0.5% volumetric concentration but deviates for higher concentrations such as 1% and 1.5%.

Comments

Advisors: John Shelton.||Committee members: Kyu Taek Cho; Pradip Majumdar.||Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations.

Extent

vii, 55 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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