Study on the Heat Transfer Capability of Silicon Carbide - Ethylene Glycol Nanofluid

Ethylene glycol-based (EG) nanofluids containing silicon carbide (SiC) in the concentrations 0.1, 1 and 5 wt% were characterized, in order to understand their potentiality to improve the heat transfer efficiency of the base fluid. First of all, the stability was verified almost every day for 30 days using a Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) technique. Then, nanofluids thermal conductivities and dynamic viscosities were measured, analysing their dependence on temperature and nanoparticle concentration. The fluids show an increment in thermal conductivity (?) more than proportional to the increment of nanoparticle concentration at a given temperature. Moreover, ? increases with temperature. The dynamic viscosity (?) increment is small at low nanoparticle concentrations and quite significant at 5%wt concentration. Increasing the temperature, the absolute value of viscosity decreases but the increment is increasing.