Experimental results on the viscosity of alumina-based nanofluids are reported for various shear rates, temperature, nanoparticle diameter, and nanoparticle volume fraction. From the data it seems that the increase in the nanofluid viscosity is higher than the enhancement in the thermal conductivity as reported in the literature. It is shown, however, that the viscosity has to be increased by more than a factor of 4—relative to the increase in thermal conductivity—to make the nanofluid thermal performance worse than that of the base fluid.
BT - Appl. Phys. Lett. DA - 09/2006 DO - 10.1063/1.2356113 IS - 13 LA - eng N2 -Experimental results on the viscosity of alumina-based nanofluids are reported for various shear rates, temperature, nanoparticle diameter, and nanoparticle volume fraction. From the data it seems that the increase in the nanofluid viscosity is higher than the enhancement in the thermal conductivity as reported in the literature. It is shown, however, that the viscosity has to be increased by more than a factor of 4—relative to the increase in thermal conductivity—to make the nanofluid thermal performance worse than that of the base fluid.
PB - aip.scitation.org PY - 2006 T2 - Appl. Phys. Lett. TI - Measurements of nanofluid viscosity and its implications for thermal applications VL - 89 ER -