Classical Behavior of Alumina (Al2O3) Nanofluids in Antifrogen N with Experimental Evidence

A nanofluid is a suspension containing nanoparticles in conventional heat transfer fluids. This paper reports on an investigation of alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles in Antifrogen N, also called AFN, which is a popular antifreeze coolant consisting primarily of ethylene glycol and other additives to impede corrosion. The base carrier fluid is 50% by weight of water and 50% by weight of AFN. We systematically measured the nanomaterials and heat transfer data of nanofluids for four different size particles, namely, 20, 40, 150, and 250 nm alumina particles. The pH of all the nanofluids is adjusted to have a stable dispersion. The material characterizations include SEM and DLS particle measurements. We measured thermal conductivity, viscosity, and heat transfer coefficient in developing flow of the nanofluids. We observed that these nanofluids behave as any other classical fluids in thermally developing flow and classical heat transfer correlations can be used to completely describe the characteristics of these nanofluids.