Current Applied Physics 6 (2006) 10681071

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Investigation on characteristics of thermal conductivity

enhancement of nanouids
Y.J. Hwang, Y.C. Ahn, H.S. Shin, C.G. Lee, G.T. Kim, H.S. Park, J.K. Lee

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-Dong, Kumjung-Ku, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea
Received 4 September 2004; received in revised form 2 April 2005
Available online 19 August 2005

Abstract
It has been shown that a nanouid consisting of nanoparticles dispersed in base uid has much higher eective thermal conductivity than pure uid. In this study, four kinds of nanouids such as multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in water, CuO in
water, SiO2 in water, and CuO in ethylene glycol, are produced. Their thermal conductivities are measured by a transient hot-wire
method. The thermal conductivity enhancement of water-based MWCNT nanouid is increased up to 11.3% at a volume fraction of
0.01. The measured thermal conductivities of MWCNT nanouids are higher than those calculated with HamiltonCrosser model
due to neglecting solidliquid interaction at the interface. The results show that the thermal conductivity enhancement of nanouids
depends on the thermal conductivities of both particles and the base uid.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 82.70.k; 47.17
Keywords: Nanouids; Nanoparticle; Thermal conductivity; Zeta potential; Transient hot-wire method

1. Introduction
Heating or cooling uids are important to many
industrial sectors, including transportation, energy supply and production and electronics. The thermal conductivity of these uids plays a vital role in the
development of energy-ecient heat transfer equipment.
However, conventional heat transfer uids have poor
heat transfer properties compared to most solids. In
fact, an amount of studies of the eective thermal conductivity of suspensions consisting of solid particles
have been conducted. However, these studies have been

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 510 2455; fax: +82 51 512

5236.
E-mail address: jklee@pusan.ac.kr (J.K. Lee).
1567-1739/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cap.2005.07.021

conned to those produced with millimeter or micrometer-sized particles. The lack of stability of suspensions
that involve coarse-grained particles is undoubtedly a
primary reason why the uids with dispersed milli- or
micro-sized particles have not been applied to any
industrial sectors. In the recent researches, suspensions
containing a small amount of metal, nonmetal nanoparticles or carbon nanotubes have been reported to have
substantially higher thermal conductivities than those
of the base uids [13]. Mechanisms of the thermal conductivity enhancement in nanouids also have been
studied [4,5]. To measure the thermal conductivity of
uid, a transient hot-wire method is widely used. In
the present study, we produce suspensions with CuO,
SiO2 and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)
with base uids of DI-water, ethylene glycol. The thermal conductivities of these nanouids are measured with
the transient hot-wire method.

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Table 1
Properties of materials for producing nanouid
Properties

Particles
Carbon nanotubes (multiwalled)

CuO

SiO2

H2O

Ethylene glycol

Specic gravity
Thermal conductivity (W/mK)
Average size

2.6
3000
Length: 1050 lm
Diameter: 1030 nm

6.32
76.5
33 nm

2.22
1.38
12 nm

1
0.613

1.11
0.252

2. Materials
Table 1 shows the properties of materials for preparing nanouids. The thermal conductivities of
MWCNTs, CuO nanoparticles and SiO2 nanoparticles
are 3000 W/mK [6], 76.5 W/mK, and 1.38 W/mK,
respectively. The thermal conductivities of base uids,
DI-water and ethylene glycol, are 0.613 W/mK and
0.252 W/mK, respectively.
Fig. 1 shows the photographs of the test particles.
MWCNTs have brous morphologies and the average
length and diameter are 1050 lm and 1030 nm,
respectively. The average diameters of CuO and SiO2
nanoparticles are 35.4 nm and 7 nm, respectively. Morphologies of these particles are spherical.
An ultrasonic disruptor is used to produce nanouids. After 2 h intensive sonication, the stable suspen-

sions are obtained in case of CuO and SiO2

nanouids. Since MWCNTs are entangled and agglomerated in aqueous suspension, sodium dodecyl sulfate
(SDS) is used as a surfactant when producing MWCNT
nanouids.

3. Measuring thermal conductivity of nanouid

Fig. 2 shows schematic diagram of transient hot-wire
system for thermal conductivity measurement of carbon
nanouids. Transient hot-wire method for measuring
thermal conductivity of a low viscosity uid is wellknown. In this study, transient hot-wire method for
measuring electrically conducting uid [7] because the
particles, used in this experiment, are electrically conductive. Teon coated platinum wire, which diameter

Fig. 1. Photographs of test particles.

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Y.J. Hwang et al. / Current Applied Physics 6 (2006) 10681071

40

R2
Voltage output
Data acquisition
system

R3

Rw
Platinum Wire

30

Measured Data: MWCNT+Water

Measured Data: MWCNT+Ethylene glycol
----- Hamilton-Crosser Model: MWCNT+Water

k/ko x 100 (%)

R1

20

10

0
0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

Volume Fraction (%)

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of transient hot-wire system for thermal

conductivity measurement of nanouids.

is 76 lm and the thickness of Teon insulation layer is

17 lm, is used for a hot wire in the measurement system.
Initially the platinum wire immersed in media is kept at
equilibrium with surroundings. When a uniform voltage
is supplied to the circuit, the electric resistance of the
platinum wire rises with the temperature of the wire
and the voltage output is measured by an A/D converting system at a sampling rate of 10 times per second. The
relation between the electric resistance and the temperature of platinum wire is well-known [8]. The measured
data of temperature rise is linear against logarithmic
time interval. The thermal conductivity is calculated
from the slope of the rise in the wires temperature
against logarithmic time interval by the following equation [7]:
 
q
t2
k
ln
.
1
4pT 2  T 1
t1
The value of k is the thermal conductivity of uid. T is
the temperature of the wire at time t.

4. Thermal conductivity of nanouid

Fig. 3 depicts the thermal conductivity enhancements
of DI-water based MWCNT nanouid as a function of
volume fraction of MWCNTs. In this paper, Dk is the
thermal conductivity enhancement of nanouid, and
ko is the thermal conductivity of base uid. The thermal
conductivity of nanouid is enhanced up to 11.3% at a
volume fraction of 0.01. Uncertainty of the thermal conductivity of nanouid is increased with increasing particle volume fraction. The uncertainties of the thermal
conductivity of MWCNT nanouid are 0.51% and
2.19% at a volume fraction of 0.0025 and 0.01, respectively. It is believed that it is dicult to obtain highly
stable suspension which has good reproducible proper-

Fig. 3. Comparison between the values calculated with Hamilton

Crosser model and the experimental results for water-based MWCNT
nanouids as a function of MWCNT volume fractions.

ties when the MWCNTs volume fraction increases. It

is shown that the comparison between the experimental
data for MWCNT in deionized water and the values calculated from HamiltonCrosser model [9]. The result
shows that the measured thermal conductivities are
greater than those calculated from HamiltonCrosser
model. HamiltonCrosser model is known as following
equation [9]:
k e k p n  1k o  n  1/k o  k p
.

k p n  1k o /k o  k p
ko

The notations of e, p, and o represent nanouid, particle

and base uid, respectively. / and k represent the volume fraction and thermal conductivity, respectively.
In suspensions, the liquid molecules close to a particle
surface are known to form a solid-like layer at the interface. This solid-like structure of liquid molecules may
play an important role in heat transport from solid wall
to adjacent liquid [10]. Since these interactions are not
considered in conventional models for predicting
thermal conductivity of suspension, they always underestimate the thermal conductivity enhancement of nanouid. The weakness of this model has been presented
elsewhere [13,11].
Fig. 4 shows the thermal conductivities of various
nanouids. For water-based nanouid, MWCNT nanouid has the highest thermal conductivity whereas SiO2
nanouid has the lowest thermal conductivity. This result shows that the thermal conductivity enhancement
of nanouid is higher when the suspended nanoparticles
have higher thermal conductivity. In case of CuO nanouids, the thermal conductivity enhancement of ethylene
glycol-based nanouid is higher than that of waterbased nanouid. This result shows that nanouid is
more eective for a working uid which has lower thermal conductivity.

Y.J. Hwang et al. / Current Applied Physics 6 (2006) 10681071

12
Particle concentration: 1 vol%

k/k o x 100 (%)

10
8
6

1071

ser model due to neglecting solidliquid interaction at

the interface. The thermal conductivity enhancement
of water-based MWCNT nanouid is increased up to
11.3% at a volume fraction of 0.01. The results show
that the thermal conductivity of nanouids depends on
the thermal conductivity of the suspended particles
and base uids.

References

2
0
Water+MWCNT Water+CuO

Water+SiO2

Ethylene Glycol
+ CuO

Fig. 4. Thermal conductivity enhancement of four kinds of nanouids

at a particle volume fraction of 1%.

5. Conclusions
To investigate the thermal conductivity of nanouid,
the thermal conductivity of four kinds of nanouids
such as MWCNTs in water, CuO in water, SiO2 in
water, and CuO in ethylene glycol, are measured by a
transient hot-wire method. The thermal conductivity
of MWCNT nanouids are almost linearly increased
with increasing particle volume fraction and the measured thermal conductivity of MWCNT nanouids are
higher than the calculated values with HamiltonCros-

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