Using effective medium theory the authors demonstrate that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids can be significantly enhanced by the aggregation of nanoparticles into clusters. Predictions of the effective medium theory are in excellent agreement with detailed numerical calculation on model nanofluids involving fractal clusters and show the importance of cluster morphology on thermal conductivity enhancements.
BT - Applied Physics Letters DA - 10/2006 DO - 10.1063/1.2360229 LA - eng M1 - 14 N2 -Using effective medium theory the authors demonstrate that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids can be significantly enhanced by the aggregation of nanoparticles into clusters. Predictions of the effective medium theory are in excellent agreement with detailed numerical calculation on model nanofluids involving fractal clusters and show the importance of cluster morphology on thermal conductivity enhancements.
PB - aip.scitation.org PY - 2006 EP - 143119 T2 - Applied Physics Letters TI - Effect of aggregation on thermal conduction in colloidal nanofluids VL - 89 ER -