Md. Riyad Tanshen

Experimental investigation of the mechanical grinding effect on graphene structure

Graphene has been proven to be a promising material for various applications due to its outstanding chemical, physical, optical as well as mechanical properties. To further improve these properties of graphene, here we apply a grinding method with various speeds (100–600 rpm) of a planetary ball mill under wet conditions in graphene based aqueous solution. Therefore, the improvements in dispersion and thermal characteristics of the graphene–water solution were investigated based on the morphological and structural changes. The best dispersibility and highest thermal conductivity of graphene–water solution were observed for a grinding speed of 500 rpm. As a result, the grinding speed of 500 rpm is found as the optimum condition of planetary ball milling in the case study. The reason for the grinding speed of 500 rpm revealing the best condition is attributed to the reduced ratio (ID/IG = 0.221) of the D band and the G band in Raman spectroscopy. We believe that structurally upgraded graphene in this study would greatly improve the performance of the graphene based devices.

Is metal nanofluid reliable as heat carrier

A pre- and post experimental analysis of copper-water and silver-water nanofluids are conducted to investigate minimal changes in quality of nanofluids before and after an effective heat transfer. A single loop oscillating heat pipe (OHP) having inner diameter of 2.4mm is charged with aforementioned nanofluids at 60% filling ratio for end to end heat transfer. Post experimental analysis of both nanofluids raises questions to the physical, chemical and thermal stability of such suspension for hazardless uses in the field of heat transfer. The color, deposition, dispersibility, propensity to be oxidized, disintegration, agglomeration and thermal conductivity of metal nanofluids are found to be strictly affected by heat transfer process and vice versa. Such degradation in quality of basic properties of metal nanofluids implies its challenges in practical application even for short-term heat transfer operations at oxidative environment as nano-sized metal particles are chemically more unstable than its bulk material. The use of the solid/liquid suspension containing metal nanoparticles in any heat exchanger as heat carrier might be detrimental to the whole system.