Statistical analysis of thermal conductivity of nanofluid containing decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes with TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

In this paper, we report for the first time the statistical analysis of thermal conductivity of nanofluids containing TiO2 nanoparticles, pristine MWCNTs and decorated MWCNTs with different amounts of TiO2 nanoparticles. The functionalized MWCNT and synthesized hybrid of MWCNT-TiO2 were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM image confirmed that the ends of MWCNTs were opened during their oxidation of them in HNO3 and TiO2 nanoparticles successfully attach to the outer surface of oxidized MWCNTs. Thermal conductivity measurements of nanofluids were analysed via two-factor completely randomized design and comparison of data means is carried out with Duncan's multiple-range test. Statistical analysis of experimental data show that temperature and weight fraction have a reasonable impact on the thermal conductivity of all tested nanofluids (α = 0.05). The results also show that increased temperature and weight fraction leads to the increased thermal conductivity.