Effect of Al2O3 Nanolubricant on a Passively Enhanced R134a Pool Boiling Surface
M.A. Kedzierski
This paper quantifies the influence of Al2O3 nanoparticles on the pool boiling performance of R134a/polyolester mixtures on a Turbo-BII-HP boiling surface. An Al2O3 nanolubricant (a lubricant containing dispersed nano-size particles) was made by suspending nominally 10 nm diameter Al2O3 particles in a synthetic polyolester to roughly a 1.6% volume fraction. The nanoparticles caused, on average, a 12% degradation in the boiling heat transfer relative to that for R134a/polyolester mixtures without nanoparticles for the three lubricant mass fractions that were tested. The degradation was nearly constant for heat fluxes between 20 kW/m2 and 120 kW/m2. It was speculated that the boiling heat transfer degradation was primarily due to a combination of (1) film boiling in the reentrant cavity rendering the nucleate boiling enhancement mechanism of the nanoparticles ineffective and (2) a reduction in bubble frequency due to the increased surface wetting as caused by the nanoparticles.
Keywords: Additives, aluminum oxide, boiling, enhanced heat transfer, nanolubricant, nanotechnology, refrigerants, refrigerant/lubricant mixtures, structured surface