Investigation on the Electrical and Rheological Properties of AlN-Based Synthetic Ester Nanofluids

The present study deals with the characterization of electrical and rheological behaviour of the Synthetic ester fluid incorporated with various concentration of Aluminium nitride (AlN) nanoparticles. Zeta potential measurement has shown an excellent stability of the ester fluid mixed with the nanoparticle. Corona inception voltage (CIV) measured using ultra-high frequency (UHF) technique and the results confirmed higher discharge resistance for nanofluid dispersed with 0.005% of AlN. Phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) analysis with higher harmonic voltages has shown increase in pulse magnitude and number of discharges. Dielectric constant and tan 8 measurements have revealed a slight marginal increase in its value with the inclusion of filler. Streaming current magnitude was found to increase with the disc rotational speed, concentration of nanoparticle and ambient temperature. Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis has shown increase in fluorophores intensity with filler dispersion in the ester fluid. Rheological properties of fluids mixed with nanoparticles are inspected with cone plane geometry configuration. Synthetic ester and its nanofluid exhibited Newtonian behavior of flow pattern and are independent of the applied shear rate. An exponential decay of viscosity of nanofluids was observed with temperature and it follows an Arrhenius law. The calculated activation energy has increased with the incorporation of filler concentrations. The complex modulus of AlN nanofluids was observed alongside exhibiting the viscous behavior where the loss modulus G '' is much larger than the storage modulus G', with the applied frequency.