In order to investigate the mechanism of nanoparticles enhancing the heat and mass transfer of the ammonia-water absorption process,several types of binary nanofluids were prepared by mixing Al2O3 nanoparticles with polyacrylic acid(PAA),TiO2 with polyethylene glycol(PEG 1000),and TiN,SiC,hydroxyapatite(noodle-like) with PEG 10000 to ammonia-water solution,respectively.The thermal conductivities were measured by using a KD2 Pro thermal properties analyzer.The influences of surfactant and ammonia on the dispersion stabilities of the binary nanofluids were investigated by the light absorbency ratio index methods.The results show that the type,content and size of nanoparticles,the temperature as well as the dispersion stability are the key parameters that affect the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.For the given nanoparticle material and the base fluid,the thermal conductivity ratio of the nanofluid to the ammonia-water liquid increases as the nanoparticle content and the temperature are increased,and the diameter of nanoparticle is decreased.Furthermore,the thermal conductivity ratio increases significantly by improving the stabilities of nanofluids,which is achieved by adding surfactants or performing the proper ammonia content in the fluid.
A series of experiments were performed on the viscosity of a nanofluid,produced by mixing carbon black and mulsifier OP-10 using ammonia-water with the ultrasonic dispersion.The results show that,when adding surfactant separately in low mass concentrations,at first the viscosity of solution decreases sharply compared with that of ammonia-water,then increases with increasing the concentration of OP-10.In a certain concentration of surfactant,the viscosity of nanofluids increases with increasing the concentration of nanoparticles.Based on Einstein model and Langmuir absorption theory,a new model was summed up for nanofluids.Compared with test values,the calculated values on the new model have verified that the model is suitable to predict the viscosity of nanofluids,because the maximum relative error is less than 5%.Nano-particles absorption in the nanofluids is not only single-molecule layer adsorption,but also multi-layer molecular adsorption and other complicated adsorption.So the new model,only based on single-molecule layer adsorption theory of Langmuir,is not fully in line with the real circumstances.
CHENG Bo1,2,DU Kai1,ZHANG Xiao-song1,YANG Liu1(1.School of Energy & Environment,Southeast University,Nanjing,Jiangsu 210096,China
