B.C. Pillai

Experimental Investigation of Thermo-Physical Properties of Al 2 O 3 Nanofluid on Commercially Available Blue Dyed Kerosene for Low Volume Concentration

The current work involves the measurement of thermo physical properties of commercial available blue dyed Kerosene, examining their behavior with alumina nano particles. It was found that the particle size of alumina ranged from 32 nm – 50 nm from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. Low volume concentrations (0.01%, 0.05% and 0.10% by volume) were used for this study. The parameters studied were thermal conductivity, viscosity and surface tension. The study was conducted at different range of temperatures (25-60 °C). Oleic acid was added as surfactant and the nanofluid was found to be stable for more than a week. The conductivity of the blue dyed kerosene alumina nanofluid increased with an increase in temperature and volume concentration. An enhancement of 9.33 % in conductivity was observed with a temperature of 60 °C for a volume concentration of 0.10%. The viscosity of the blue dyed kerosene decreased with increase in temperature. An average enhancement of 20% in viscosity of blue dyed kerosene alumina nanoparticles has been noted for a volume concentration of 0.10% as compared to the base kerosene. The surface tension of the kerosene alumina nanofluid decreased with an increase in temperature and decrease in concentration. An enhancement of 7.9 % in surface tension has been noted for volume concentration of 0.1% as compared to base kerosene at same temperature. The effect of temperature on thermo physical properties was determined by a linear decrease in surface tension as the temperature was raised. The results provide a strong proof that the addition of nano particles intensified the thermo physical properties to a considerable rate.