PREPARATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF GRAPHENE NANOFLUID: TO BE USED AS COOLANT

摘要

In the recent years, nanofluids embarked as a new class of fluids with improved thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity, thermal dijfusivity, viscosity, and convective heat transfer coefficients thus promoting better heat transfer. Nanofluids consists of two-phase system where the nano sized solid phase (nanoparticles) is dispersed into a base fluid. Graphene is a material which has two-dimensional planar geometry with thermal conductivity of the order of 5000 W/mK. Nanoparticles in the form of thin flakes as small as 50 nm, 100 nm has been used in this study. Two step technique is the used method for preparing nanofluids. Inclusion of additives in small quantity, enhance the durability of the nano particles inside the conventional base fluids. The stability of the solid nano particles inside the conventional base fluid is increased by using surfactants. The heat transfer capacity and stability of the fluids are considered as the basic properties for investigation. The nanofluids characterization studies were drawn from the SEM, XRD and thermal conductivity results. Hot wire method was used to determine the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids. The preparation and properties of graphene based nanofluids which can be used as coolant are studied in this work.