Thermal conductivity of Fe nanofluids depending on the cluster size of nanoparticles

Nanofluids have been attractive for the last few years with the enormous potential to improve the efficiency of heat transfer fluids. This work focuses on the effect of the clustering of nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Large enhancement of the thermal conductivity is observed in Fe nanofluids sonicated with high powered pulses. The average size of the nanoclusters and thermal conductivity of sonicated nanofluids are measured as time passes after the sonication stopped. It is found from the variations of the nanocluster size and thermal conductivity that the reduction of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids is directly related to the agglomeration of nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity of Fe nanofluids increases nonlinearly as the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases. The nonlinearity is attributed to the rapid clustering of nanoparticles in condensed nanofluids. The thermal conductivities of Fe nanofluids with the three lowest concentrations are fitted to a linear function. The Fe nanofluids show a more rapid increase of the thermal conductivity than Cu nanofluids as the volume fraction of the nanoparticles increases. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.