Measurement of Effective Thermal Conductivity of CNT-Nanofluids by Transient Short-Wire Method

Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of CNT-nanofluids and Al2O3-nanofulids were measured by the transient short-hot-wire method. The uncertainty of their measurements is estimated to be within 1% for the thermal conductivity and 5% for the thermal diffusivity. Three different shapes of Al2O3 particles were prepared for Al2O3–water nanofluids. For the thermal conductivity of Al2O3-water nanofluids, there are differences in the enhancement of thermal conductivity for differences in particle shapes. Hardly any enhancement of thermal conductivity was observed for SWCNT-water nanofluids because the volume fraction of SWCNT was extremely low. However, we consider by increasing the volume fraction of SWCNTs, it will be possible to enhance the thermal conductivity.