An Experimental Investigation of Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Expedited Unidirectional Freezing of Cyclohexane-Based Nanoparticle Suspensions Utilized as Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Materials (NePCM)
Journal Name: International Journal of Thermal Sciences
Volume:
Issue: 0
Page:
Year: 2012
List of Authors:
Liwu Fan, Jay M. Khodadadi
Abstract
An experimental investigation of nanoparticle suspensions utilized as nano-enhanced phase change
materials (NePCM) was conducted. Cyclohexane-based NePCM samples were prepared with copper
oxide nanoparticles with various mass concentrations. Thermal conductivity of the samples was
measured using the transient plane source technique for both liquid and solid phases at multiple
temperatures. Unidirectional freezing of the samples was investigated and the experimental results were
compared with the numerical predictions of a one-dimensional Stefan model proposed earlier by the
authors. It was shown that the measured thermal conductivity for samples in their liquid phase is
enhanced with increasing concentration of nanoparticles, whereas the data in the solid phase exhibit
a non-monotonic enhancement when the concentration is greater than 2%. Unidirectional freezing was
found to be expedited by up to 5.2%.