Effect of Al2O3 Nanolubricant on a Passively Enhanced R134a Pool Boiling Surface

Published

November 15, 2011

Author(s)

Mark A. Kedzierski

Abstract

This paper quantifies the influence of Al2O3 nanoparticles on the pool boiling performance of R134a/polyolester mixtures on a Turbo-BII-HP boiling surface. An Al2O3 nanolubricant (a lubricant containing dispersed nano-size particles) was made by suspending nominally 10 nm diameter Al2O3 particles in a synthetic polyolester to roughly a 1.6 % volume fraction. The nanoparticles caused, on average, a 12 % degradation in the boiling heat transfer relative to that for R134a/polyolester mixtures without nanoparticles for the three lubricant mass fractions that were tested. The degradation was nearly constant for heat fluxes between 20 kW/m2 and 120 kW/m2. It was speculated that the boiling heat transfer degradation was primarily due to (1) a combination of film boiling in the reentrant cavity rendering the nucleate boiling enhancement mechanism of the nanoparticles ineffective and (2) a reduction in bubble frequency due to the increased surface wetting as caused by the nanoparticles.

Citation

International Journal of Transport Phenomena

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

additives, aluminum oxide, boiling, enhanced heat transfer, nanolubricant, nanotechnology, refrigerants, refrigerant/lubricant mixtures, structured surface

Citation

Kedzierski, M. (2011), Effect of Al2O3 Nanolubricant on a Passively Enhanced R134a Pool Boiling Surface, International Journal of Transport Phenomena, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907104 (Accessed March 13, 2025)