Experimental study of thermophysical properties and nanostructure of self-assembled water/polyalphaolefin nanoemulsion fluids

In this study, the nanostructures and thermophysical properties (thermal conductivity, viscosity, and specific heat) of one new type of nanostructured heat transfer fluid, water/polyalphaolefin nanoemulsion fluid, are investigated. The water/ polyalphaolefin nanoemulsion fluids are thermodynamically stable containing dispersed water nanodroplets formed by self-assembly. It has been found that the nanostructure inside nanoemulsion fluids may affect their thermophysical properties, especially the phase change heat transfer characteristics. The small-angle neutron scattering technique has been used to help identify the nanostructure inside the water/polyalphaolefin nanoemulsion fluids. By using the 3-region Guinier–Porod model, the fitting curve shows that there is a nonlinear variation of the nanodroplets’ size and shape with water’s concentration, which also coincides with the trend of its viscosity and specific heat. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity increases linearly with higher volume fraction of water which, however, appears to be insensitive to the nanostructure change. While the water nanodroplets inside can increase the thermal conductivity of the nanoemulsion fluid by 16%, its effective specific heat can be boosted up to 90% when the water nanodroplets undergo liquid–solid phase change.