Experimental Measurements on the Thermal Conductivity of Glycerol-Based Nanofluids with Different Thermal Contrasts

Abstract

We report, in this work, our study of the thermal conductivity of high-viscosity nanofluids based on glycerol. Three nanofluids have been prepared with different thermal contrasts, by suspending graphene flakes, copper oxides, or silica nanoparticles in pure glycerol. The nanofluids were thermally characterized at room temperature with the 3ω technique, with low amplitudes of the temperature oscillations. A significant enhancement of the thermal conductivity is found in both the glycerol/copper oxide and the glycerol/graphene flake nanofluids. Our results question the role played by the Brownian motion in the microscopic mechanisms of the thermal conductivity of high-viscosity glycerol-based nanofluids. A similar behavior of the thermal conductivity as a function of the nanoparticle volume fraction was found for all three glycerol-based nanofluids presently investigated. These results could be explained on the basis of fractal aggregation in the nanofluids.