Effect of Addition of Aluminum Nanoparticles on Cooling Performance and Quench Severity of Water during Immersion Quenching

Abstract

In the present work, the effect of the addition of aluminum nanoparticles in concentrations varying from 0.001 to 0.5 vol. % on the cooling performance and quench severity of water during immersion quenching is investigated. The results of cooling curve analyses show that an increase in nanoparticle concentration increased the cooling rates at critical temperatures up to 0.05 vol. % and decreased them thereafter. The transition from the vapor blanket stage to the nucleate boiling stage was also altered by quenching in nanofluids. A finite difference heat transfer program was employed to generate cooling curves at different values of heat transfer coefficient from thermo-physical properties of the quench probe material. A Grossmann H quench severity versus cooling rate curve was established, and from this curve, the H factors of prepared nanofluids were estimated. An increase in nanoparticle concentration up to 0.05 vol. % resulted in an increase of the H value of water from 63 m−1 to 93 m−1, and any further increase in the concentration of nanoparticles resulted in a decrease in H. The results suggest both the enhancement and the deterioration of the cooling performance of water by the addition of aluminum nanoparticles.