Thermal Conductivity of Cu and Al-Water Nanofluids

Nanofluids are suspensions of nanoparticles in the base fluids, a new challenge for thermal sciences provided by nanotechnology. In this paper, the tested fluids are prepared by dispersing the Al and Cu into water at three different concentrations such as 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm. Thermal conductivities of these fluids are measured experimentally by thermal property analyzer i.e. KD2 Pro by using KS-1 sensor needle as this needle is preferred for low viscosity fluids. Experimental results show that thermal conductivity of nanofluids are higher than the base fluid and Thermal conductivity of Cu/Water nanofluid is more than Al/Water nanofluid, because of the Cu thermal conductivity is more in comparison with Al thermal conductivity.  In addition, a comparison is made between the experimental results of thermal conductivity and the results calculated using models presented for predicting them. Results showed that classic thermal conductivity models are failed to predict nanofluids thermal conductivity, but novel models that consider the effects of temperature have more acceptable results and9% difference is found between experimental results and Xei model for Cu/water nanofluid.