Effect of particle concentration, temperature and surfactant on surface tension of nanofluids

Heat transfer performance with nanofluids depends on the thermo physical properties of the suspension. Surface tension is an important property for heat transfer calculation. In this paper, various parameters that effect on the surface tension of nanofluids such as nanofluid preparation method, effect of volume fraction, temperature, and surfactants on nanofluids have been studied. Additionally, precise assessments on the theoretical correlations related to the surface tension of nanofluids have also been included. Based on the existing experimental results, surface tension augments respectively with volume fraction intensification. Surface tension of nanofluids decreases accordingly with the increase of temperature and surfactant concentration. Nevertheless, there have been some contradictory results on the effect of volume fraction and surfactant on surface tension of nanofluids. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.