Turbulent convective heat transfer and pressure drop of dilute CuO (copper oxide) - water nanofluid Inside a circular tube

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.Turbulent forced convective heat transfer and pressure drop of 0.01 vol.% CuO-water nanofluid was assessed experimentally. The nanofluids were made flow into a heated horizontal tube under uniform constant heat flux within Reynolds number range of 11,500 to 32,000. The first objective is to know how close traditional correlation/formula for, both, heat transfer and pressure drop can predict nanofluid’s heat transfer and pressure drop. The second is to know how nanofluid’s convective heat transfer and pressure drop are compared to those of its base fluid; in this case water. The results showed that the abovementioned characteristics of the nanofluid can be predicted by the traditional correlation available. It is also found that the nanofluid’s Nusselt number and friction factor, which represent the heat transfer rate and pressure drop, respectively, are close to those of water. Hence, there is no anomaly due to the dispersed nanoparticles within the water.KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

The influence of Fe, Mn and Cr addittions on the formation of iron-rich intermetallic phases in an Al-Si die-casting alloy

The microstructure evolution of a high-pressure die-cast AlSi9Cu3(Fe) alloy is studied over different Fe, Mn and Cr content. Fe-rich intermetallic phases were characterized by using optical microscope, image analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results revealed that the amount of Fe-rich phases as well their size increase by increasing the elemental content. Needle-like particles appear in the alloy with higher Fe:Mn ratio, while coarse \u3b1-phases assume polygonal, stark-like or Chinese script morphology according to the Fe:Mn:Cr balance as revealed by EDS analysis. The 3D-SEM investigation suggests that both the polygonal and stark-like morphology can be associated to a rhombic dodecahedron structure. The morphology evolution of the Fe-bearing particles as a function of the chemical composition and casting process is proposed and discussed