Heat Transfer Mechanisms in Nanofluids: A Review

Traditional heat transfer fluids, such as water, ethylene glycol and lubricating oil which are used in various applications such as chemical processes, refrigeration, heating and cooling processes, transportation, power generation and other micro-sized applications have poor heat transfer properties and impose limitation to heat transfer augmentation. Improving the thermal conductivity is the key idea to improve the heat transfer characteristics of conventional fluids. Since a solid matrix has a larger thermal conductivity relative to base fluid, suspending solid fine particles (millimeter or micrometer sized range) into the base fluid is expected to improve the thermal conductivity. A dilute suspension of nanometer-sized particles dispersed in a base fluid is known as Nanofluids. Nanofluids exhibit enhanced heat transfer properties and are expected to be a promising coolant candidate for thermal management systems of next generation.