Unexpected sharp peak in thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes water based nanofluids

Thierry Maré (1) , Salma Halelfadl (1) , Stefan van Vaerenbergh (2) , Patrice Estellé (1)

1 LGCGM - Laboratoire de Génie Civil et Génie Mécanique
2 Microgravity Research Center

We report here the thermal conductivity measurement of carbon nanotubes water-based nanofluids stabilized by sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate as a function of volume fraction and temperature. For the first time, we further show the existence of a sharp peak in thermal conductivity at very small volume fraction below theoretical percolation threshold which is temperature independent. This preliminary study evidences the potential of promising and useful nanofluid for practical applications in cooling and energy systems and heat exchangers, as viscosity penalty is obviously vanished at this concentration.

Mots clés: Percolation threshold; Peak; Thermal conductivity; Experiments; CNT nanofluids

Domaines: Thermique [physics.class-ph]; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Thierry Maré, Salma Halelfadl, Stefan van Vaerenbergh, Patrice Estellé. Unexpected sharp peak in thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes water based nanofluids. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 2015, 66, pp.80-83. ⟨10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2015.05.013⟩. ⟨hal-01158229⟩