Dynamic viscosity and surface tension of propylene glycol containing TiO2 nanoparticles

Adding nanoparticles with high thermal conductivity into the work fluid is one of the most significant ways to enhance heat transfer. In this article, the influences of nanoparticle mass concentration (0.5-10.0 wt.%) and temperature (5-25 degrees C) were investigated on the viscosity of TiO2-propylene glycol nanofluid. At the same time, eight kinds of mass concentrations (0.5-10.0 wt.%) were used to investigate the changing regularity on the surface tension of nanofluid; Accordingly, the modified correlations including nanoparticle concentration were proposed respectively. The experimental results show that the viscosity of the nanofluid increases with the increase in particle concentration. Within the concentration of 10.0 wt.%, the viscosity increases by about 7.0% for every 1.0 wt.%. While the viscosity decreases with the increase in the temperature. The surface tension of the mixture increases slowly with the increase in particle concentration. Within 2.0 wt.%, the surface tension of nanofluid increases by less than 1.0% for every 0.5 wt.%, when the concentration of nanofluid exceeds 2.0 wt.%, surface tension raises less than 1.0% per 2.0 wt.%.