Effects of cobalt ferrite coated with silica nanocomposite on the thermal conductivity of an antifreeze: New nanofluid for refrigeration condensers

The purpose of the present study was to study the process of development, stability and measurement of thermal conductivity of nanofluid combination of antifreeze-CoFe2O4/SiO2. The results of photography capturing technique showed that the use of CMC surfactant with a mass ratio of 0.1 nanoparticles produced the best long-term stability conditions. Thermal conductivity measurement of nanofluid was performed using KD2-Pro thermal analyzer in a temperature range of 25–50°C with 0.1–1.5% of mass fraction. The results show that the nanofluid thermal conductivity enhanced with increasing the mass fraction of the nanoparticles up to 37.7%. In order to calculate the nano-antifreeze thermal conductivity using curve fitting method of laboratory data, an experimental correlation with high precision was presented. Finally, regarding thermal properties of this nano-antifreeze, it can be introduced as an alternative with high heat transfer potential in thermal and refrigeration systems.