Thermal conductivity enhancement of suspensions containing nanosized alumina particles

Various suspensions containing Al2O3 nanoparticles with specific surface areas in a range of 5-124 m(2) g(-1) have been prepared and their thermal conductivities have been investigated using a transient hot-wire method. Nanoparticle suspensions, containing a small amount of Al2O3, have substantially higher thermal conductivity than the base fluid, with the enhancement increasing with the volume fraction of Al2O3. The enhanced thermal conductivity increases with an increase in the difference between the pH value of aqueous suspension and the isoelectric point of Al2O3 particle. For the suspensions using the same base fluid, the thermal conductivity enhancements are highly dependent on specific surface area (SSA) of nanoparticle, with an optimal SSA for the highest thermal conductivity. For the suspensions containing the same nanoparticles, the enhanced thermal conductivity ratio is reduced with the increasing thermal conductivity of the base fluid. The crystalline phase of the nanoparticles appears to have no obvious effect on the thermal conductivity of the suspensions. Comparison between the experiments and the theoretical model shows that the measured thermal conductivity is much higher than the values calculated using theoretical correlation, indicating new heat transport mechanisms included in nanoparticle suspensions. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.