This investigation conducts pool boiling experiments under saturated conditions (T{sub}(sat)=60 °C) using nanofluids as the coolants. Three different nanofluids were tested including zinc oxide (ZnO)-water, aluminum oxide (Al{sub}2O{sub}3)-water and aluminum oxide (Al{sub}2O{sub}3)-water+ethylene glycol (ethylene glycol solution). At saturation (T{sub}(sat)=60 °C), the pool boiling performance of the two pure water based nanofluids were similar. The maximum CHF enhancement as compared to the predicted Zuber's [1] CHF evaluated at an equivalent saturation temperature is ～180% for Al{sub}2O{sub}3-water nanofluids and ～240% for ZnO-water nanofluids. In both cases, no degradation in the boiling heat transfer rate was observed for lower nanoparticle concentrations. However, higher nanoparticle concentrations demonstrate nucleate boiling heat transfer degradation at high heat fluxes. The dispersion of Al{sub}2O{sub}3 nanoparticles in various ethylene glycol solutions is also found to enhance CHF by as much as ～130%. A significant difference in the diameter of individual grains/particles (27 ± 16.3 nm) and the volume weighted average diameter of particles in solution (155 ± 80 nm) indicates that the Al{sub}2O{sub}3-water nanofluids consist primarily of nanoparticle agglomerates. Gravimetric fractionation of the nanofluid produced nanofluids with particle/particle aggregate average diameters that ranged from 69-346 nm. Over the size range tested, there was no significant CHF dependence on the average particle diameter.
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