Rheological Property and Thermal Conductivity of Multi-walled Carbon Nano-tubes-dispersed Non-Newtonian Nano-fluids Based on an Aqueous Solution of Carboxymethyl Cellulose

Abstract

The non-Newtonian nano-fluids with 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt% of multi-walled carbon nano-tubes have been prepared by dispersing different amounts of multi-walled carbon nano-tubes into an aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose at a weight fraction of 3 wt%, respectively. The nano-fluids exhibit the shear-thinning rheological behavior. The viscosity of the nano-fluid increases with the weight fraction of multi-walled carbon nano-tubes and decreases with the increase in temperature. The thermal conductivity of all the nano-fluids is higher than that of the base liquid. The thermal conductivity enhancement is as high as 14.6% for the nano-fluid containing 2 wt% of multi-walled carbon nano-tubes.

Keywords::

• nano-fluid
• non-Newtonian fluid
• multi-walled carbon nano-tubes
• carboxymethyl cellulose

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51276066) and the Key Project of DEGP (no. 2012CXZD0011).