Experimental study of pool boiling heat transfer of nano-particle suspensions on a plate surface

In this paper an experimental investigation of pool boiling heat transfer at horizontal plate surface is conducted for 26 nm Fe-water and 13 nm Al₂O₃-water nano-particle suspensions. The experimental results show that there are two effects which influence the boiling heat transfer of liquid with nano-particle suspension. Nano-particles increase the thermal conductivity of boiling fluid, which enhances the convection heat transfer induced by the micro-layer evaporation and bubble upward motion near the boiling surface (termed as a thermal effect); Nano-particles might cover or trap into some cavities on the boiling surface, which causes these cavities decreasing their nucleation activity or even losing their activity during the boiling (termed as a surface effect). The boiling heat transfer for nano-particle fluid would be enhanced or deteriorated depending on the summarization of these two effects.