Rheological Behavior of Zinc-Oxide Nanolubricants

We report an experimental investigation of rheological properties of turbine oil-zinc-oxide nanoparticle dispersion with different nanoparticle weight fractions ranging from 0.1% to 4%. Rheological experiments were performed within the temperature range of 0-60 degrees C. The results showed that nanolubricants and the base fluid behave like Bingham fluid. Nanolubricant viscosity enhancement as a function of nanoparticle volume fraction is well predicted by Bachelor equation with modified volume fraction. Thereby, rheological data revealed that nanoparticles make aggregates in the turbine oil with diameter about 3.6 of diameter of a single nanoparticle. Moreover, temperature effect on viscosity and yield stress of nanolubricants is shown and discussed.