Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

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Powder Technology

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Thermophysical profile of SiC–CuO/C nanocomposite in base liquid

ethylene glycol
Suleiman Akilu a, Aklilu Tesfamichael Baheta a, Sujan Chowdhury b, Eswaran Padmanabhan c, K.V. Sharma d,⁎
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bandar Sungai Long, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
c
Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Ground Floor Block A, R&D Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
d
Center for Energy Studies, Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUH College of Engineering, Kukatpally, 500085 Hyderabad, Telangana State, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The experimental data on the viscosity and thermal conductivity (TC) of ethylene glycol (EG)-based hybrid
Received 31 July 2018 nanofluids (HyNFs) dispersed with a SiC–CuO/C nanocomposite (NC) is reported for the first time. The rheolog-
Received in revised form 10 February 2019 ical behavior and dynamic viscosity have been analyzed with a computer controlled rotational rheometer over a
Accepted 25 April 2019
temperature range from 298.15–353.15 K and shear rate from 20 to 200 s−1. The TC was measured using tran-
Available online 29 April 2019
sient hot-wire method for NF concentrations up to 3.13 wt%. The effect of the temperature and volume fraction
Keywords:
of the nanoparticles (NPs) on the thermophysical properties were examined under atmospheric pressure. The
SiC experimental findings revealed that the TC increases with the concentration and temperature, while the viscosity
CuO/C increases with concentration and decreases with temperature as expected. HyNF exhibit substantially higher TC
Ethylene glycol and viscosity enhancement compared to single-particle based NF under similar conditions. The enhanced prop-
Thermal conductivity erties of the HyNF could be attributed to the synergetic effects of the composite particles and the underlying
Viscosity physical mechanism in the fluid medium. The existing theoretical models failed to predict the experimental
Hybrid nanofluid data. Herein, a new correlation is presented as a function of concentration and temperature for the TC and
viscosity.
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction power densities in microscale electronics. This fundamental challenge

The current technological revolution has proven crucial given the
way it helped transform our lives over the past decade. We have seen
an increased proliferation of various collection of compact and sophisti-
cated devices in the high-tech industries. The downside comes from the
excessive heat buildup in the components as the existing cooling system
is lacking on the effectiveness of waste heat removal. Accumulation of
more heat than necessary put lots of stress on the device, which in addi-
tion to impaired performance can cause the device to fail prematurely.
In this respect, industries have sought for new concept and technology
to improve the cooling system operational reliability. The better the
cooling system used, the lower will be the heat dissipation temperature
[1]. Air cooling is typically used for electronic devices, nonetheless, heat
fluxes of about 100 W/cm2 or beyond need the application of liquid
cooling system [2]. Ordinary liquids such as water, ethylene glycol,
and mineral oil have been employed as a medium for transferring
heat [3]. However, they do have adequate capacity to cope with high
Abbreviation: NC, nanocomposite; NF, nanofluid; NP, nanoparticle; HyNF, hybrid
nanofluid; TC, thermal conductivity.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kvsharmajntu@gmail.com (K.V. Sharma).
has sparked widespread concern for the engineers and designers alike.
An improved method to advance the thermal performance of con-
ventional liquids involved the TC enhancements using NFs, a term refer-
ring to a dispersion of solid-nanoparticles in the liquids [4]. Different
NPs of highly ultrapure forms were introduced in production of NFs, in-
cluding metals (Au, Ag, Cu), metal oxides (CuO, Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2,
etc.), ceramics (AlN, SiN, SiC, TiC, WC, etc.), and carbon materials (car-
bon nanotube, diamond, and graphene, etc.). Owing to better heat-
conducting capability, NFs offer the prospect for a high heat exchange
rate and subsidize the reduction in the size of heat exchanger [5].
Thus, it can be said that applications of NF are myriad and cover a
wide range of applications, including those in not only microelectronics
but also in automobile equipment.
Industrial grade glycols exhibit unique thermal properties such as
low freezing point, specific heat capacity, and high boiling point. For
that reason, ethylene glycol (EG)-based NFs have attracted the attention
of many researchers for air-conditioning, heating and cooling applica-
tions. Madhesh et al. [6] measured the TC of Ag (12 nm)/EG NFs with
concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 2.0% volume. Lee et al. [7] studied
TC behavior of Al2O3 (38 nm)/EG at a volume fraction of 4.0 vol% and
presented about a 13% increase in TC. In the same volume fraction
range, EG-based NF with CuO (23 nm) dispersion of lower particle

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2019.04.061
0032-5910/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551 541

size exhibited larger TC enhancement values up to 20%. Żyła and Fal [8]
prepared SiO2 (7–14 nm) NFs and measured the TC at 298 K for a sam-
ple with 2.6% vol. The result showed that using NF enhanced the TC by
3.3% compared to pure EG. Murshed et al. [9] observed about 18% ad-
vance in TC of EG at about 5.0 vol% of TiO2 (15 nm) NPs. Longo and
Zilio et al. [10] reported the increase in TC of the TiO2 (15 nm)/EG at
3.0% volume fraction was about 19.5% at 323 K. Xie et al. [11] dispersed
MgO particles of mean diameter 20 nm in EG with different concentra-
tions (0.5–5.0)% vol. The TC of the NF improved by 40.6% at 303 K. They
opined that bulk material TC, particle size, nanoparticle Brownian mo-
tion, nanolayering, clustering, and viscosity are possible factors respon-
sible for the augment of TC of NFs. According to the study done by
Moosavi et al. [12], the TC of EG can be enhanced by 10.5% with ZnO
(67 nm) dispersion in the presence of ammonium citrate as a stabilizer.
Xie et al. [13] reported the TC behavior of EG using different particle
sizes of SiC (26 and 600 nm), up to 13 and 23% of enhancements were
found at a low temperature of 277 K. Bobbo et al. [14] examined the ef-
fect of temperature on the TC of SiC (10–50 nm)/EG NF with various
weight concentrations 0.1, 1.0, and 5.0 wt%, in temperature range
from 283 to 343 K. They showed that, for maximum concentration, a
rise of the temperature causes the increase TC of suspension from 12
to 21%. Also, another result obtained from experiments on impacts of
temperature on TC of SiC (30 nm) NFs was presented by Li et al. [15].
Approximately TC improve up to 16.2% of NFs was found in the study.
Enhancement in TC was approximately 23% over that of EG at 1.0 vol%
in the temperature range of 293–323 K. Additionally, the Maxwell
model presented by the authors is unable to correlate the experimental
data. Many other findings on TC of EG-based NFs have been reported
using a variety of nano-additive materials [16–25]. Nevertheless, from
a practical point of view, when NPs are added in a base liquid, in addi-
tion to the viscosity fluctuations the rheological properties change too,
hence researchers have simultaneously inspected these phenomena.
Experimental investigation of SiO2 particles as dispersed additives to
EG has been performed by Akilu et al. [26]. The results showed that, at
the same volume concentration and temperature, the viscosity of base
liquid EG was lower than that of SiO2 NFs. The viscosity of pure EG
was enhanced by 39% when it was mixed with SiO2 NP as reported in
the study by Żyła and Fal [8]. Furthermore, it was noted from the previ-
ous paper [27] that temperatures, particle concentrations, and aggrega-
tion had a substantial influence on the viscosity of EG-based NFs. The
effect of adding SiC particles on the rheological behavior of EG suspen-
sion was explored by Li et al. [28]. The results revealed that the viscosity
of the suspensions increases with the loading of the NPs. They also
found the NF behaving as a shear thinning at the low shear rates and

Table 1
Summary of previous studies on thermal conductivity of EG-based nanofluids.

Material Base liquid NF synthesis method Particle loading Particle diameter Temperature TC enhancement Ref.

Single-NPs
Ag EG Two-step 0.1–2.0 vol% 12 nm 303–368 K ~2% Madhesh et al. [6]
Ag EG Two-step 0.027–0.107 vol% 7.3 nm 293–313 K 10% Seyhan et al. [16]
AiN EG Two-step 1.8–7.9 vol% 20 nm 298 K 21.7% Żyła and Fal et al. [19]
Al EG Two-step 1.0–5.0 vol% 80 nm 294–333 K 45% Murshed et al. [9]
Al2O3 EG Two-step 1.0–5.0 vol% 38 nm 293 K 18% Lee et al. [7]
Al2O3 EG Two-step 1.0–5.0 vol% 10 nm 273–323 K 29.1% Longo and Zilio [10]
CuO EG Two-step 1.0–4.0 vol% 23 nm 293 K 20% Lee et al. [7]
Gr EG Two-step 0.07% 5 nm 303–323 K 37% Van Trinh et al. [21]
Gr EG Two-step 0.005–0.03 vol% Nonea 298–323 K 7% Baby and Ramaprabhu [22]
MgO EG Two-step 0.5–4.0 vol% 20 nm 283–333 K 40.6% Xie et al. [11]
SWCNH EG Two-step 0.1–1.5 vol% 2–5 nm 298 K 11% Selvam et al. [23]
SWCNT EG Two-step 0.5–2.5 vol% 1–4 nm 298–323 K 38% Amrollahi et al. [20]
SWCNT EG Two-step 0.03–0.21 vol% 1 nm 298 K 14.8% Harish et al. [24]
MWCNT EG Two-step 0.07% 10–30 nm 303–323 K 21% Van Trinh et al. [21]
MWCNT EG Two-step 0.04 vol% Nonea 298 K 7.3% Jha and Ramaprabhu [25]
ND EG Two-step 0.32–3.38 vol% 4 nm 298 K 4.9% Żyła et al. [17]
SiC EG Two-step 0.8–4.3 vol% 26 nm 277 K 13.5% Xie et al. [13]
SiC EG Two-step 0.8–4.3 vol% 600 nm 277 K 23% Xie et al. [13]
SiC EG Two-step 0.1–5.0 wt% 10–50 nm 283–343 K 21% Bobbo et al. [14]
SiC EG Two-step 0.5–1.0 vol% 30 nm 293–323 K 23% Li et al. [15]
SiO2 EG Two-step 0.5–2.6 vol% 7–14 nm 298 K 3.3% Żyła and Fal et al. [8]
SiO2 EG Two-step 0.5–2.0 vol% 21 nm 303–333 K 11.5% Akilu et al. [26]
TiN EG Two-step 0.22–1.18 vol% 20 nm 298 K 6.03% Żyła et al. [18]
TiN EG Two-step 0.22–1.18 vol% 50 nm 298 K 4.92 Żyła et al. [18]
TiO2 EG Two-step 1.0–5.0 vol% 15 nm 294–333 K 18% Murshed et al. [9]
TiO2 EG Two-step 1.0–3.0 vol% 15 nm 273–323 K 19.5% Longo and Zilio [10]
ZnO EG Two-step 1.0–3.0 vol% 67.1 nm 283–333 K 10.5% Moosavi et al. [12]

Composite-NPs
Ag-Gr EG Two-step 0.001–0.07 vol% 10 nm 298–343 K 14% Baby and Ramaprabhu [34]
Ag-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.012–0.03 vol% 10–20 nm 303–322 K 29.03% Jha and Ramaprabhu [25]
Al-Zn EG Two-step 0.01–0.1 vol% 15 nm 303–343 K 16% Paul et al. [30]
Au-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.006–0.024 vol% 10–20 nm 303–322 K 27% Jha and Ramaprabhu [25]
Cu-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.008–0.04 vol% 3–30 nm 303–322 K 20.2% Jha and Ramaprabhu [35]
CuO-Gr EG Two-step 0.007–0.01 vol% 8.5 nm 298 K 28% Baby and Sundara et al. [36]
Fe3O4-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.1–2.3 vol% 5–30 nm 298–323 K 30% Harandi et al. [38]
Gr-CNT EG Two-step 0.0175–0.07 vol% 3–30 nm 303–322 K 50% Van Trinh et al. [21]
Gr-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.011–0.04 vol% 2–19.2 nm 298–323 K 24% Aravind and Ramaprabhu [39]
MgO-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.05–0.6 vol% 5–40 nm 298–323 K 21.3% Afrand et al. [37]
ND-Co3O4 EG Two-step 0.05–0.15 wt% 16.9 nm 293–333 K 8.7% Sundar et al. [33]
ND-Ni EG Two-step 0.62–3.03 wt% 30 nm 293–333 K 13% Sundar et al. [41]
Pd-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.06–0.03 vol% 10–20 nm 303–322 K 17.34% Jha and Ramaprabhu [25]
TiO2-CuO/C EG Two-step 0.5–2.0 vol% 24 nm 303–333 K 16.7% Akilu et al. [31]
SiO2-MWCNT EG Two-step 0.05–1.95 vol% 5–30 nm 298–323 K 22.2% Hemmat-Esfe et al. [40]
ZnO-TiO2 EG Two-step 0.1–3.5 vol% 30–45 nm 298–323 K 32% Toghraie et al. [32]
a
Not cited information.
542 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

Newtonian fluid at higher shear rates, especially for higher concentra-

tion. Other EG-based NFs however displayed Newtonian behavior irre-
spective of concentration [8,26,29]. These findings indicate that
uncertainties continue to exist in the rheological characterizations of
NFs, which calls for more comprehensive analysis.
A new, innovative thermal fluid termed the Hybrid nanofluid
(HyNF) has been developed through cutting-edge research to promote
heat transfer in energy-efficient systems. It is now widely regarded as
one of the great triumphs in nanotechnology. HyNF adopts much
more improved and flexible properties with the potential to keeping
pace with rapid evolution of the technology of the present era. Since
the properties of the fluid media are dependent on the resulting constit-
uent materials, the HyNF could simply be fine-tuned for a specific pur-
pose which is impossible with single-particle NFs [4]. The synthesis of
NF is carried out by dispersing two or more NPs of different materials
(nanocomposite) in a base liquid. Several researchers have examined
the physical properties of various NFs with nanocomposite (NC) inclu-
sions. For example, metal-HyNFs: Al\\Zn, Paul et al. [30], oxide
HyNFs: TiO2-CuO/C, Akilu et al. [31], ZnO-TiO2, Toghraie et al. [32],
ND-Co3O4, Sundar et al. [33]; Carbon-based HyNFs: Ag-Gr, Baby and
Ramaprabhu [34], Cu-MWCNT, CuO-Gr, Jha and Ramaprabhu [35,36],
MgO-FMWCNT, Afrand et al. [37], Fe3O4-MWCNT, Harandi et al. [38],
Gr-CNT, Van Trinh et al. [21], Gr-MWCNT, Aravind and Ramaprabhu
[39], SiO2-MWCNT, Hemmat Esfe et al. [40], ND-Ni, Sundar et al. [41].
Details of the reported studies on EG-based NFs are given in Table 1.
One promising ceramic material with excellent thermal conductivity
is silicon carbide (SiC) which can be in the range of (360–
490 W·m−1·K−1) [42]. Copper oxide NPs possess excellent optical, cat-
alytic, electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. A blend of copper
oxide and carbon (CuO/C) combine the advantages of hybrid materials.
In particular, carbon material has been found effective in intensifying
the conductivity of composite by acting as conducting network and buff-
ering matrix for primary particles [43]. Therefore, it is highly relevant to
understand the effect that features of CuO/C hybrid particles could have
when combined with EG-based β-SiC NPs especially given the fact that
no data is made available for the SiC hybrid NFs so far. To bridge the re-
search gap, we aimed to investigate the fundamental thermophysical
properties (thermal conductivity and viscosity) of HyNF with SiC-CuO/
C NCs dispersed in EG medium. The temperature range from 298 K to
353 K was studied for HyNFs with mass fractions up to 3.13 wt%. A com-
parison was made between the TC and dynamic viscosity enhancements
of the SiC-CuO/C HyNF and single-particle SiC NF. Predictions of experi-
mental results with theoretical models are made also where possible.
Moreover, correlations to predicting the TC and viscosity of HyNF have
been provided as a function of temperature and volume fraction.
Fig. 1. A schematic of chemical structure of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant.
Organics, USA; ethylene glycol (EG), diethylene glycol (DEG), ammo-
nium hydroxide (NH4·OH), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were
used as received from R&M Chemicals, Malaysia. The carbon–copper
oxide (CuO/C) nanocomposite (22–35 nm) was synthesized according
to the procedure described elsewhere [23] with certain modification.
Specifications of the samples used in this work are detailed in Table 2.
2.2. Synthesis of the hybrid CuO/C NC
Carbon–copper oxide nanocomposite (CuO/C NC) of sizes 12–28 nm
have been synthesized via the solvothermal method using copper (II)
nitrate trihydrate as the copper source material and diethylene glycol
as the solvent. Briefly, a copper nitrate solution (0.1 M) was added to
a DEG aqueous solution (25 mL) under continuous stirring at
298.15 K. An ammonia solution (3 M) was added to the above mixture
dropwise under magnetic stirring until it reached the basic pH value 8–
9 (alkaline). A precursor was collected after being centrifuged at
4000 rpm for 15 min, washed with water and ethanol, and naturally
dried in air. This precursor was heated to 623.15 K in a high-
temperature vacuum tube furnace for 3 h and then allowed to cool
down to room temperature under nitrogen, a black CuO/C powder
was thus obtained. The density measurement of the CuO/C powder
was performed using an ultrapycnometer 1000 (Quanta Chrome Instru-
ments, Pittsburgh. PA USA) at room temperature, 298.15 K. The device
was programmed to purge in helium gas for 20 min and an average of
3 out of 5 consecutive readings were taken with a standard uncertainty
of less than 0.01%. The true density was determined as 5800 kg m−3.
2.3. Material characterization
The size distribution analysis of the SiC and CuO/C NPs was con-
ducted separately via high-resolution transmission electron micros-
copy, HRTEM (TEM, Libra 200 FE, Carl Zeiss AG, Germany). The
samples were prepared by placing a drop of well-dispersed particles

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials

Silicon carbide (SiC) NPs (Beta, 99% pure, 45–65 nm nominal diam-
eter, density 3216 kg m−3) were supplied by US Research
Nanomaterials Inc., USA. n-Hexane (H) was acquired from ACROS

Table 2
Pertinent property of used materials for nanofluid synthesis.

SiC CuO/C EG

Source US Research Nanomaterials Synthesis R&M

Inc Chemicals
Appearance Dim gray Dark Colorless
Purity (%) 99.0a 99.7a
Specific surface area 40–80 23.06 Noneb
(m2/g)
Specific gravity (kg/m3) 3216 5800 1111
a
The purity values of all reagents are specified by the suppliers.
b
Not applicable information. Fig. 2. Schematic representation of probe-type ultrasonication process.
 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551 543

Table 3 have been formulated by dispersing the prepared NC particles in a base

Comparison of measured values with reference data for pure ethylene glycol. fluid using the two-step process at room temperature.
T/K (a) kbf a/W·m−1·K−1 (b) ηbfb/Pa·s Nanoparticles have a strong tendency to agglomerate in liquid sys-
Expt. Lit. [55] Dev. [±] Expt. Lit. [55] Dev. [±]
tems because of the extremely high surface energy associated with
the large surface area to volume ratio. The aggregation of the particles
298.15 0.2511 0.2540 1.87 16.3 16.6 2.41
leads to an increase of particle size which eventually promotes the re-
303.15 0.2520 0.2552 1.11 13.4 13.5 2.34
313.15 0.2534 0.2552 2.13 11.1 11.2 0.35 duction in the effective TC of the suspensions [46]. As was mentioned,
323.15 0.2546 0.2568 2.07 9.20 9.40 4.30 the control of the agglomeration is necessary to ensure long-term dis-
a
The relative standard uncertainty of thermal conductivity is 2.0%.
persion stability of NFs. This can be achieved with the aid of chemical
b
The relative standard uncertainty of viscosity is 5.0%. dispersion techniques, by creating an electrical double layer at the
solid-liquid interface (electrostatic or charge stabilization) or adsorbing
polymers/surfactants on the NPs surfaces (steric stabilization) [47]. To
in an ethanol solution, which was then allowed to dry at ambient tem- provide a long-range repulsion between the suspended particles in
perature for 5 min. The morphology of the SiC-CuO/C composite was de- NFs, diverse kinds of important surfactants could be chosen for that pur-
termined using a field emission scanning electron microscope, FESEM pose. These surfactants can be grouped into three main groups
(Supra 55 VP, Carl Zeiss AG, Germany). An X-ray powder diffraction i.e., anionic: sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecylbenzene sul-
(XRD) diffractometer (XRD, Bruker, D8 ADVANCE) with Cu-Kα radia- fonate (SDBS), sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP), polyvinyl alcohol
tion (λ = 1.5418 Å) was employed for the phase identification of the (PVA), acetylacetone (acac), sodium oleate, trisodium citrate, gum ara-
crystalline samples. The weight composition of the SiC-CuO/C was ob- bic (GA), etc.; nonionic: polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyethylene gly-
tained via the energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum, which was at- col (PEG), octyl phenol ethoxylate (Triton X100), polyethylene glycol
tached to the SEM. sorbitan monooleate (Tween 20), etc.; and cationic surfactants:
cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), chitosan, etc. [48]. Non-
2.4. Nanofluid preparation ionic surfactants are highly compatible with organic solvents such as
glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol. Li and coworkers [15]
Silicon carbide carbon copper oxide NC HyNF was prepared by solu- found that the addition of nonionic surfactant PVP can greatly improve
tion mixing under ultrasound irradiation [44]. SiC and CuO/C NPs were the dispersion and stability of SiC/EG NFs for more than 30 days of prep-
carefully weighed in the ratio of 8:2 (by weight) using a Mettler Toledo aration. Hence, PVP was selected in the production of NFs. Fig. 1 depicts
TLE204E analytical balance with a precision of ±0.0001 g. The sample the chemical structure of the PVP. One may note the presence of a func-
was then loaded into a beaker containing 20 ml of hexane and stirred tional carbonyl group (C=O) in the structure, which essentially serves
using a high-speed mechanical stirrer for 1 h followed by several rounds as an active site for interactions or adsorption of surfactant to NPs sur-
of sonication (Labsonic M, Sartorius AG) at 80% amplitude for 2 h. The face [49]. An optimum concentration of 1.0% (wt%) based on the recom-
resultant mixture was re-stirred later by magnetic stirring to ensure mendation of the previous studies was used. The PVP was first dissolved
thorough mixing and heated to 323.15 K until the entire solvent evapo- in 55 ml of EG (base liquid). A measured amount of SiC-CuO/C NPs for
rated. Finally, the residue (SiC and CuO/C) was dried in an oven over- each designed particle concentration was then added to the surfactant
night at a temperature of 353.15 K. The density of the as-synthesized solution with constant stirring using a magnetic stirrer.
NC was measured in a density bottle using hexane as a standard. The ob- It is known that the chemical stabilization method will not always
tained value for the SiC-CuO/C was 3543.6 kg m−3, with a relative stan- give the best results for all types of NFs. Many investigators combine
dard uncertainty of about 1%. Similarly, the density measurement of the chemical and physical dispersion (sonication) methods, especially
EG solution was performed using a vibrating u-tube densitometer (DA- when dealing with high loadings of nano-powders [9,50].
645, KEM, Japan) at 298.15 K. Based on three replicate readings, the Ultrasonication is a commonly used lab-scale physical method to agitate
density was determined as 1109.8 kg m−3, with the standard uncer- NPs in liquids [35,37,38]. Agglomerates of particles bonded by the van
tainty of 0.001 g cm−3. The maximum average deviation of the density der Wall forces can break up more easily by applied high-frequency
values with the reference data of Hewitt [45] is 0.01%. Two-step is ex- sonic vibrations. In general, the application of ultrasound waves to NFs
tensively used preparation method of NFs due to its simplicity and con- can be made in two ways: by using a probe (tip) sonicator or bath
venience compared to the one-step method [30,32,33]. Similarly, HyNFs sonicator [51]. The probe-type ultrasonication is a highly effective

Fig. 3. Experimental measurement setup (a) thermal conductivity (b) Rheological and viscosity.
544 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

Fig. 4. TEM images of NPs (a) SiC (b) CuO/C and (c) SiC-CuO/C nanocomposite.

dispersion technique ideally for non-inert, non-functionalized colloidal
materials [50]. The success of this process is that no direct molecular in-
teraction would occur between the ultrasound and the dispersion [52].
In this work, a probe sonication system has been employed as illustrated
in the schematic diagram of Fig. 2. Pohl and Schubert [53] reported that
the de-agglomeration rate is independent of the solid concentration up
to 50% weight loading. Thus, the optimum loading of composite NPs was
fixed at 3.13 wt%. Sample temperatures throughout the sonication pro-
cess were controlled in an ice-water bath to minimize overheating. For
the preparation of 55 ml NF samples, the designated particle concentra-
tions 0.82, 1.62, 2.42, and 3.13 wt% were evaluated according to the mix-
ture rule formula given the Eq. (1)
the size measurements were performed at 298 K with a scattering
angle of 173°.
The thermal conductivity measurements were performed according
to the transient hot-wire technique at atmospheric pressure using a
thermal property analyzer (KD2 Pro, Decagon Devices Inc., USA). This
device was equipped with a KS-1 probe sensor (60 mm long, 1.3 mm di-
ameter). The needle probe served both as a temperature sensor and line
heat source for the thermal conductivity determination in the range of
0.2–2.00 W m−1 K−1. A 50 ml sample was filled into a glass vial and
sealed with a silicon septum cover. The KS-1 probe was inserted verti-
cally into the vial through the center of the septum. The assembly of
the vial and the probe was then immersed in a thermostatic water

mSiC−CuO=C
φm ¼  100 ð1Þ
mSiC−CuO=C þ mEG
Element Atomic%
and the equivalent concentrations of the NF in percentage by volume CK 42.09
were found to be 0.25, 0.51, 0.77, and 0.99%, respectively. OK 48.89
The pH values of the NF samples were measured using a pH meter
(FiveEasy FE 20, Mettler Toledo, Switzerland) which had shown values Si K 8.66
ranging between 5 and 6. Furthermore, to keep away from the isoelec- Cu K 0.35
tric point for the SiC at pH ≈ 4.9 [54] where there is a high possibility
100
of electrostatic attraction amongst the NPs, the suspensions were ad-
justed to the pH value of 11 using a NaOH solution. The hydrodynamic
particle size and zeta potential measurements of the SiC-CuO/C EG NF
were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) using a zeta sizer
(Nano ZS, Malvern Instruments, UK) at a laser wavelength of 633 nm.
The zeta potential was measured using a Z-dip cell in Auto-mode. All Fig. 5. EDX spectra with the table of the detected elements.
 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551
Fig. 6. XRD patterns (a) CuO/C (b) SiC and (c) CuO/C-SiC nanocomposite powders.
bath (Vivo-RT2, Julabo-GmbH, Germany) maintained at a constant tem-
perature with a precision of ±0.1 K. A series of calibrations of the sensor
needle were undertaken by measuring the TC of EG as a standard sam-
ple. The deviation of the measured TC from the reference data was about
±2% [55] as shown in Table 3(a). Suresh et al. [56] showed a deviation of
about 3% by comparison of their experimental data with the reference
values for water. The data from Nabil et al.'s [57] study revealed the
maximum deviation of ±1.6% from the reference values of the TC of
the EG/W mixture. In general, these results validate the operating pro-
cedure employed and the reliability of the measurement. The TC was
then recorded under automatic mode time intervals of 15 min for 6 h
at a constant temperature in the range from 298.15 to 333.15 K. An av-
erage of at least 10 successive readings were considered in the process
of establishing the final value.
Rheological measurements were performed by using a modular
compact rotational rheometer (Physica MCR 302, Anton Paar, Austria).
Rotational and oscillatory measurements can be made using either a
double gap or cone or plate geometries. To provide accurate results,
the double gap concentric cylinder geometry system (DG 26.7) for low
viscosity fluids was used for the study. About 10 ml of a sample was in-
troduced into the double gap chamber. The measuring unit was secured
onto the rheometer in a horizontal orientation. The distance between
the double gap cylinders, one of which remained stationary and the
other of which rotated, was set to 1 mm. The measurement of the cell
temperature was controlled by a built-in high accuracy Peltier thermo-
stat with a precision of ±0.1 K. In order to check the proper operation
and accuracy of the measurements, the instrument was calibrated
with ethylene glycol as a standard solution. A good agreement between
the reference and measured data was observed within a ± 5% deviation
[55] as shown in Table 3(b). A similar validation performed by Nabil
et al. [57] disclosed an acceptable consistency of the measured data
when compared with the literature data. After the calibration of the rhe-
ometer system was complete, acquisition and determination of the
Fig. 7. Hydrodynamic particle size distribution by intensity for SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluid at 0.82 wt%, prepared by 2 h each for magnetic stirring and ultrasonic probe sonication methods.
545
dynamic viscosity were set via the programmable analysis software
Rheocompass®. Experiments were executed in triplicate using a
stress-controlled mode for the shear runs from 0.1 s−1 to 200 s−1 and
constant temperatures in the range of 298.15 K to 353.15 K. Fig. 3 (a,
b) show the experimental setup for TC and viscosity measurements,
respectively.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characteristics of nanoparticles
The TEM analysis of the particles revealed that the SiC and CuO/C
were spherical NPs of loose agglomerates with average sizes of 29 nm
and 28.6 nm, respectively (Fig. 4a and b). The SEM image of the SiC-
CuO/C NP composite is depicted in Fig. 4(c). It could be seen that the
CuO/C NPs were homogeneously distributed within the SiC ensemble.
The inset represents the corresponding distribution histogram revealing
the average size of the composite particles.. Fig. 5 displays the scan of
the EDX spectrum for the selected area in the SiC-CuO/C. The powder
was found to be composed of Si, C, O, and Cu elements in which no sig-
nificant impurity from other elements could be spotted.
The crystal structure analysis was performed by X-ray diffraction
which is presented in Fig. 6. According to the XRD data as shown in
Fig. 6 curve (a), the positions of the diffraction lines with (hkl) =
(110), (002), (111), (202), (202), (113), (022), and (113) were attrib-
uted to the monoclinic copper phase according to the JCPDS data file
#045–0937 [58]. No distinct peak for carbon was visible in the pattern
due to its amorphous character. In Fig. 6 curve (b), the reflections of
the pattern indicate the presence of the β-SiC phase, respectively
(JCPDS Card No. 01–074-2307), in agreement with the reported value
of Nikkam et al. [59]. In addition, both the CuO and SiC peaks were
strongly detected in the composite samples from the XRD patterns as
evidenced in Fig. 6 curve (c).
3.2. Dispersion formula and stability
Fig. 7 shows the hydrodynamic size distribution of the HyNF samples
prepared by using magnetic stirring and ultrasonication. The SiC-CuO/C
NF prepared under 2 h magnetic stirring displayed a bimodal hydrody-
namic particle size distribution, whereas a combination of magnetic
stirring and ultrasonic treatment for 2 h led to a single narrow distribu-
tion peak. Obviously, the impact produced by the cavitation of the ultra-
sonic waves was responsible for reducing the agglomerate particles into
smaller sizes of monomodal distribution (531–895 nm). Furthermore,
the hydrodynamic diameter of the NPs in the NF obtained by using
the DLS did not correlate with an average primary particle size of the
NC in accordance with the Stokes-Einstein equation. This is attributed
to particle clusters and the adsorption effect of the NPs [56].
The stability of the NFs was determined using the zeta potential and
sedimentation method. A suspension of absolute zeta-potential above
546 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

30 mV is considered stable [60]. The measured zeta potential value for Table 4
the diluted NFs with particle concentrations of 0.82%, 1.62%, 2.42%, Dependence of thermal conductivity on particle concentration and temperature on ther-
mal conductivity of SiC-CuO/C nanofluid.
and 3.13 wt% were 45 mV, 42 mV, 40 mV, and 34 mV, which confirms
the acceptable stability of the suspension due to the stronger repulsion φm/wt knf/W·m−1·K−1
of the NPs at a pH value of 11. Fig. 8 depicts the photo of the SiC-CuO/C %
298.15 303.15 308.15 313.15 318.15 323.15 328.15 333.15
NF samples after a 30-day preparation time. No apparent disparity was K K K K K K K K
observed from the one taken immediately after preparation. In addition, 0.00 0.2511 0.2520 0.2534 0.2546 0.2552 0.2563 0.2571 0.2582
the changes in the cluster size distributions observed were very low 0.82 0.2613 0.2651 0.2683 0.2721 0.2742 0.2772 0.2813 0.2843
during the said period, which affirms the good dispersion stability of 1.62 0.2641 0.2673 0.2703 0.2741 0.2763 0.283 0.2851 0.2892
the NC. 2.42 0.2654 0.2682 0.2724 0.2772 0.2792 0.2851 0.2882 0.2951
3.13 0.2733 0.2771 0.2799 0.2854 0.2881 0.2954 0.2982 0.3081

3.3. Thermal conductivity of the SiC-CuO/C nanofluids The relative standard uncertainty of thermal conductivity is 2.0%.

The experimental data of the TC of the SiC-CuO/C composite NF with
particle concentrations and temperatures are presented in Table 4. The
results indicate that the TC of the HyNF increased with the concentra-
tion and temperature. An increase in the NF concentration implies
that there was a greater number of particles in contact with the base liq-
uid molecules. A large surface to volume ratio resulted in collisions and
interactions between the particles leading to the enhancement in the
thermal conductivity. Van Trinh et al. [61] described the behavior
based on the percolation phenomenon. It was explained that when
the volume fraction of NPs increases, the mean free path of the NPs
will also increase. As a result, the frequency of the lattice vibration in-
creases which in turn enhances the TC that increases with temperature.
The main reason for the TC enhancement with temperature might be
due to the micro convection induced by the Brownian motion of the
NPs. Moreover, the feeble increase of TC with temperature observed
may be associated with high viscosity of the base liquid (EG). It is well
known that the pure glycol exhibits strong intermolecular forces due
to hydrogen bonds. This result in higher resistance to the motion of
the fluid molecules and NPs. Besides that, an increase in the tempera-
ture rises the average kinetic energy of the molecules, giving rise to
the breakdown of the intermolecular forces. As viscosity decreases, the
Brownian motion induced convection intensifies and the effective TC in-
creases. This observation is in agreement with the behavior of ZnO–
TiO2/EG [32] and ND-Coe3O4 [33] HyNFs.
Fig. 9 shows the thermal conductivity ratio of the SiC-CuO/C hybrid
NFs at different temperatures. It is observed that the TC increases as
the NC concentration increases. A maximum percentage relative TC en-
hancement 100∙(knf – kbf /kbf) of 19.3% was observed with the 3.13% wt
concentration of the NF at 333.15 K. The enhancements have been at-
tributed to the collision of NPs (Brownian motion). There are no data
available for SiC-CuO/C to directly compare with our results. Neverthe-
less, the observations revealed that the degree of TC enhancement ob-
tained was comparable with those reported with other HyNFs at
similar particle loadings. Akilu et al. [31] prepared a TiO2−CuO/C NC
via the wet mixing technique, obtaining a 16.7% enhancement in the
TC when dispersed in EG at 333.15 K. A TC enhancement of 32% with
ZnO–TiO2/EG at 323.15 K was reported by Toghraie et al. [32]. A signif-
icantly higher enhancement of 40% was reported for Cu/TiO2-water/EG
by Hemmat-Esfe [62] with 2.0% volume concentrations at 323.15 K. The
similar trend was found for the suspension of TiO2-SiO2/EG/W [57].
In Fig. 10, the measured TC enhancement data of the HyNF in com-
parison with the single-component particle NF are displayed. The rela-
tive TC of NFs was plotted for various particle concentrations. The
percentage TC enhancements of the SiC to the SiC-CuO/C NF (kr,nf: kr,
HyNF) for the 0.82 wt% concentrations were determined to be 1.9% and
4.1%; whereas for the 3.13 wt%, the enhancement values were 5.5%
and 8.8%, respectively, at 298.15 K. Thus, the TC enhancement is nearly
doubled for the HyNF compared to the single particle-based SiC NF. The
enhancement indicates the synergistic role of composite particles. It is
well established that the TC of NFs depends on the physical properties
of the constituent materials. In view of that, substituting 20% by weight
of the SiC (29 nm) in EG with an equal mass of CuO/C (20 nm) will in-
crease the number of particles, leading to a large solid surface area in
the suspension. Botha et al. [63] reported that the TC of an oil-based
NF was enhanced by 15% when dispersed with silica doped silver parti-
cles. They attributed the enhancements to the presence of fixed dis-
tances of the Ag NPs on the silica support which allowed for shorter
pathways for the phonon transport amongst dispersed particles. Ac-
cording to Nabil et al. [57], the unique nature of the SiO2/TiO2 NC ar-
rangement incentivized the HyNF's greater contact area for
conduction better than the case of single-particle. These observations
point to the conclusion that the larger specific surface areas of afforded
by composite particles help strengthen the thermal interactions in the
suspension by virtue of the Brownian motion and particle aggregation
mechanisms [64]. Hence, SiC-CuO/C HyNF was found to have signifi-
cantly higher TC enhancement values than the single-component SiC
NF. This superior TC of HyNFs agrees with results in the literature
[21,40].
Several theoretical models have been proposed for predicting the TC
of suspensions based on the TC of the particles, base fluid, volume

0.82 wt.% 1.62 wt% 2.42 wt.% 3.13 wt.%

Fig. 8. Photograph of different samples of SiC-CuO/C–EG hybrid nanofluids stored at room Fig. 9. Relative thermal conductivity of SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluids at different
temperature of 298.15 K for 30 days. temperatures.
 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551 547

Table 5
Fitting parameters A, B, and deviation AAD%, of linear model from thermal conductivity
data of SiC-CuO/C nanofluid.

φm/wt%

0.82 1.62 2.42 3.13

A 0.069 9.946 0.017 0.001

B/10−4 6.447 7.261 8.285 9.130
AAD/% 0.127 0.228 0.289 0.485
R2 0.996 0.988 0.996 0.999

Fig. 10. Comparison of relative thermal conductivity enhancements of single-particle SiC
and SiC-CuO/C nanocomposite hybrid nanofluids.
concentration, and particle shape. The effective medium approach of the
Maxwell [65] and Hamilton-Crosser [66] models are:
Maxwell model

where, the reference temperature To = 273.15 K. This correlation has
knf kp þ 2kbf þ 2φ kbf −kp
¼

kbf kp þ 2kbf −φ kbf −kp
Hamilton-Crosser model

further compared with the experimental data as presented in Fig. 12.
knf kp þ ðn−1Þkbf −ðn−1Þφ kbf −kp
¼

kbf kp þ ðn−1Þkbf þ φ kbf −kp
Hybrid nanofluids are new solid/liquid-mixtures and there is a lack
of data available for the TC of NC particles in the literature. Thus, a direct
comparison with the above-mentioned theoretical models is not possi-
ble. Moreover, predictions of these classical correlations do not match
the experimental results due to non-inclusion of thermal interfacial re-
sistance in modeling [61]. Data from a recent report revealed up to a 6%
deviation of the experimental data from the model prediction [67]. On
the other hand, the thermal conductivity of EG-based NFs can be
modeled closely by a linear function as presented in the literature
[18]. In a similar way, the thermal conductivity of the SiC-CuO/C HyNF
is represented with the function of temperature according to the ex-
pression as follows:
knf ðT Þ ¼ A þ BT
where, A and B are the fitting parameters. Fig. 11 show that the profiles
fitted to the linear equation and it is observed that the TC data fitted the
linear model well at different temperatures. The fitting parameters (A,
B) and the deviation between the fitted data and the measurements
are presented in Table 5. The small value of the relative model error
for the thermal conductivity suggests good consistency with the
experimental data.
In order to describe the TC behavior for the base liquid and NF com-
bined, regression analysis has been performed with the experimental
data for calculating the TC of the SiC-CuO/C hybrid NF as a function of
the particle volume concentration and temperature as follows:
 12:5543
knf T
kr ¼ ¼ 1:0426 þ 0:5003½φv 0:8153  ð5Þ
kbf To
very high accuracy, with a correlation coefficient R2 (0.9229), valid for
ð2Þ
a temperature range of 298.15 K–333.15 K, and the volume fraction con-
centration range of 0.25–0.99%.
The predicted values from the developed correlation (Eq. (5)) were
The model was in good agreement with the experimental data, with
ð3Þ
± 2.0% mean absolute deviation (MAD). The sum of the squared errors
(SSE) and the average absolute deviation (%AAD) for the developed cor-
relation was determined to be 0.22% and 0.72%, respectively.
3.4. Rheology and viscosity of the SiC-CuO/C nanofluids
Several reports have been presented concerning the application of
rheometers to analyze the rheology of NFs [28,56,68]. Comprehensive
rheological characterization undertaken by the authors confirms that
the NFs can exhibit either or both Newtonian and Non-Newtonian be-
havior depending on factors such as the particle size, concentration,
and base liquid viscosity. The NFs assume the Newtonian behavior
when the concentration of the NPs is low for the case of the Al2O3–Cu/
water hybrid [56]. The Newtonian behavior of the fluids is represented
according to the governing equation which is given by:
ð4Þ
τ ¼ ηγ_ ð6Þ
where τ is the shear stress, η is the coefficient of viscosity, and γ_ is the
shear rate. To investigate the rheological characteristics of the HyNFs,

Fig. 11. Measured thermal conductivities of SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluids as a function of Fig. 12. Parity plot for thermal conductivity ratio data points for SiC-CuO/C–EG hybrid
temperature. nanofluids.
548 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

decremented with the increasing temperature. The decrease in the vis-

Fig. 13. (a) Plot of shear stress, vs. shear rate (b) dynamic viscosity vs. shear rate for SiC-
CuO/C–EG hybrid nanofluids.
tests were carried out in the temperature range of 298.15 K–353.15 K;
the flow curves are shown in Fig. 13(a). From this plot, there existed a
linear relationship between the shear stress and the shear rate, indicat-
ing that the base liquid and NF exhibited Newtonian behavior over a
shear rate range of 50–250 s−1. This phenomenon is consistent with
the studies of Suresh et al. [56] for the Al2O3-Cu/water HyNF in the
same range of the shear rates. The Newtonian phenomenon in accor-
dance with the dynamic viscosity-shear dependence analogy is also
displayed in Fig. 13(b). The trends of viscosity for all the concentrations
of the SiC-CuO/C HyNFs are similar without any significant changes with
the shear rate.
Table 6 displays the experimental data for the particle concentration
and temperature dependence on the viscosity of the SiC-CuO/C HyNFs
at a constant shear rate of 85 s−1. As can be seen, the base liquid exhib-
ited a lower viscosity whereas the NF viscosity increases considerably as
the particle concentration and the fluid temperature increase. As men-
tioned, an increasing particle concentration implies a larger number of
NPs are in contact with the base liquid. The contributions of the surface
area of the composite particles increase the resistance of the fluid mol-
ecules in motion [69]. On the same note, there exists a swelling of inter-
nal shear stress between the atoms and molecules of fluid with further
increasing NP loadings [57]. This behavior was also reported in the pre-
vious study [28]. Furthermore, it was seen that the viscosity
cosity with the temperature was more with the high particle concentra-
tions as compared to the low concentrations. A similar conclusion was
presented by Sundar et al. [14] with the ND-Fe3O4 NF when subjected
to uniform heating in the temperature range of 293.15 to 333.15 K.
The reduction in viscosity with an increase in temperature was ex-
plained by the weakening-strength of the hydrogen bonds between
the base liquid and the NPs which result in the increased Brownian mo-
tion of the NPs in the medium [28].
The trend of the viscosity ratio of the SiC-CuO/C HyNFs at different
temperatures is illustrated in Fig. 14. As can be observed, the relative
viscosity of NF increased with the concentration of the NPs and
remained constant with increasing temperature for all NF concentra-
tion. At 298.15 K, the percentage viscosity increments 100∙(ηnf–ηbf /
ηbf) for 0.82%, 1.62%, 2.42%, and 3.13% wt are 29.1%, 42.9%, 69.3%, and
205% relative to the base liquid in the temperature range from 298.15
to 353.15 K. As the data for the SiC-CuO/C NFs are scarce, a direct com-
parison of the results could not be established. Akilu et al. [70] observed
variations in the viscosity enhancements for the SiO2-CuO/C NF be-
tween 5 and 36% in the temperature range from 303.15–353.15 K at a
2.0% volume concentration. Sundar et al. [71], however, reported an in-
crease in relative viscosity with 0.2 vol% ND-Fe3O4/water NF in the tem-
perature range of 293.15–333.15 K. Thus, it can be understood that the
magnitude of the relative viscosity increment of NFs is dependent upon
the characteristics of the NPs and the base fluid.
Fig. 15 displays the viscosity ratio as a function of volume concentra-
tion and temperature at a fixed shear rate of 85 s−1. The percentage rel-
ative viscosity increments of the NFs (ηr,nf:ηr,HyNF) were 12.2% and 25.1%
for 0.81 wt% of the SiC and SiC-CuO/C, respectively, at 298.15 K. How-
ever, for the 3.13 wt% concentration, the enhancements were 63.8%
and 205%, respectively, for the SiC and SiC-CuO/C. Clearly, the viscosity
was augmented by about two-fold with the NC-based hybrid NF com-
pared to the single-particle NF for the same concentration. The explana-
tion for this phenomenon may be due to the dependence of the NF
viscosity on the particle size. The presented TEM data of the NPs indi-
cates average sizes of 29 nm and 28.6 nm for the SiC and CuO/C. So, re-
placing larger-sized SiC particles with 20% of the CuO/C created more
space to be occupied by smaller-sized particles, resulting in the viscosity
increase. The experimental data of the EG/water-based TiO2(50 nm)-
SiO2 (22 nm) NC HyNFs reported by Nabil et al. [57] display a similar
trend too, but no data was made available for the single particle-type
NF for comparison. However, for the case of the functionalized hybrid
particle, Suresh et al. [56] noted that the relative viscosity of the
Al2O3-Cu (17 nm)/water HyNF was 60% higher than those of the single
particle Al2O3-water NF at a 2.0% volume fraction. They elucidated that
the clustering and adsorption are possible for the increase in the hydro-
dynamic diameter of the hybrid NPs, hence the high increase of the rel-
ative viscosity was observed. It is deduced from these results that
varying the particle size of the NC can lead to changes in viscosity.
Thus, adopting different sizes of NCs could be the decisive factor in con-
trolling the viscosity of HyNFs. This may give way to cost-effective heat
transfer processes.

Table 6
Dependence of viscosity on particle concentration and temperature on thermal conductivity of SiC-CuO/C nanofluid.

φm/wt% ηbf/Pa·s

298.15 K 303.15 K 308.15 K 313.15 K 318.15 K 323.15 K 328.15 K 333.15 K 338.15 K 343.15 K 348.15 K 353.15 K

0.00 0.0163 0.0134 0.0111 0.0092 0.0076 0.0066 0.0057 0.0048 0.0042 0.0035 0.0032 0.0029
0.82 0.0204 0.0173 0.0144 0.0115 0.0102 0.0089 0.0079 0.0062 0.0055 0.0045 0.0040 0.0038
1.62 0.0233 0.0193 0.0167 0.0135 0.0118 0.0104 0.0089 0.0078 0.0069 0.0056 0.0050 0.0045
2.42 0.0276 0.0223 0.0197 0.0159 0.0138 0.0122 0.0106 0.0090 0.0079 0.0061 0.0057 0.0052
3.13 0.0335 0.0264 0.0223 0.0186 0.0156 0.0134 0.0115 0.0102 0.0088 0.0075 0.0067 0.0060

The relative standard uncertainty of viscosity is 5.0%.

 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551 549

Table 7
Fitting parameters ηo, A, B, and deviation AAD%, of Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann equation
from dynamic viscosity data of SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluids.

φm/wt%

0.82 1.62 2.42 3.13

−4
ηo/10 3.33 6.83 6.06 6.66
A/K 3306.5 3217.2 3214.3 3230.5
B/K 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001
AAD/% 1.48 0.74 0.98 0.49
R2 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99

The theoretical models for the viscosity of a solid-liquid system con-

sider the dependence of the particle concentration and do not include
Fig. 14. Relative viscosity of SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluids at different temperatures.
the effects of temperature. Observations from the literature evinced
that the temperature dependence of the viscosity can be fitted by
The classical models for the effective viscosity of heterogeneous mix- using the Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann (VFT) equation [74]:
tures have been extended for the prediction of NF viscosity. Commonly
used models include Einstein [72] and de-Bruijn [73] models given as A
follows: ln ηðT Þ ¼ lnηo þ ð9Þ
T−B
Einstein model

ηnf where, T is the temperature in K, ln ηo, A, and B are the fitting parame-
¼ 1 þ 2:5φ ð7Þ
ηbf ters. To ascertain the goodness of VFT fitting, the experimental data of
the viscosity is shown along with the predicted values from Eq. (9) in
Fig. 16. The values of the VFT parameters and deviation of the model
de-Bruijn model
predictions are listed in Table 7. The VFT model has been effectively
ηnf used by the authors to correlate the temperature dependence of the vis-
¼ 1 þ 2:5φ þ 4:698φ2 ð8Þ cosity of EG-based NFs, for example, Żyła et al. [75] for BN/EG and
ηbf
Pastoriza-Gallego et al. [68,76] respectively for Al2O3-EG and ZnO/
EG NFs.
For representation of the NF viscosity in terms of volume fraction of
NC particles and temperature, a linear multiple regression analysis was
undertaken, leading to a new viscosity correlation as follows:

 0:8544
ηnf T
ηr ¼ ¼ 1:0855 þ 18:9440½φv 1:0757  6:2096 ð10Þ
ηbf To

where reference the temperature To = 273.15 K. The model of Eq. (10)

showed a good correlation with R2 of 0.9717 and was valid for the vol-
ume fraction concentration range of 0.25% –0.99% in the temperature
range between 298.15 K and 333.15 K.
A comparison of the experimental viscosity with values from the
correlation is shown by the parity distribution in Fig. 17. It could be ob-
served that there is a reasonable agreement between the predictions
and the experimental results, with the mean absolute deviation
(MAD) of ±10.0%. The average absolute deviation (%AAD) and the
Fig. 15. Comparison of relative viscosity enhancements of single-particle SiC and SiC-CuO/
C nanocomposite hybrid nanofluids.
sum of the squared errors (SSE) were estimated to be 0.13%, and
9.48%, respectively.

Fig. 16. Measured viscosities of SiC-CuO/C hybrid nanofluids as a function of temperature. Fig. 17. Parity plot for viscosity ratio data points for SiC-CuO/C–EG hybrid nanofluids.
550 S. Akilu et al. / Powder Technology 354 (2019) 540–551

Nomenclature
cη viscosity enhancement coefficient [−]
ck thermal conductivity enhancement coefficient [−]
cr heat transfer enhancement ratio [−], cr = cμ/ck
d diameter [nm]
k thermal conductivity [W m−1 K−1]
kr thermal conductivity ratio [−], knf/kbf
kr, nf thermal conductivity enhancement [%], kr, nf = 100(knf − kbf)/
kbf
n empirical shape factor [−]
t time [s]
T temperature [K]
To reference temperature

Fig. 18. Plot of predicted laminar heat transfer enhancement ratio vs. nanoparticle mass Greek symbols
concentrations. η dynamic viscosity [mPa∙s]
ηr viscosity ratio [−], ηnf/ηbf
ηr, nf viscosity enhancement [%], ηr, nf = 100(ηnf − ηbf)/ηbf
3.5. Figure of the merit/property enhancement ratio γ_ shear rate [s−1]
φ particle concentration [%]
The heat transfer performance of NFs under a fully developed lami- τ shear stress [dyne cm−2]
nar flow in a tube could be predicted based on the viscosity and TC en-
hancements of the NFs as suggested by Prasher [77]. The investigators Subscripts
concluded that the increase in viscosity has to be more than four bf base fluid
times larger than the increase in the TC for the NF not to be beneficial exp experiment
thermal fluids according to the following expression: m mass
nf nanofluid

p particle
cη ηr −1 pred prediction
¼ ≤4 ð11Þ
ck ðkr −1Þ s shape
v volume

The heat transfer benefit of using nanocomposite HyNF according to Acknowledgment

Eq. (11) was estimated with the developed property of Eqs. (5) and
(10). Fig. 18 shows the plot of the heat transfer enhancement ratio as
a function of the concentration at different temperatures. As seen from
Fig. 18, it would be advantageous to use the SiC-CuO/C NF for electronic
device cooling in the laminar range of the Reynolds number for concen-
trations up to 2.0% and temperatures between 293.15 K and 353.15 K.
The NF was useful even at a high temperature as the viscosity decreases
whilst the thermal conductivity increases, which is consistent with the
trends in earlier reported results [78]. However, these results based on
the property values have to be validated by conducting convective
heat transfer experiments.
4. Conclusions
Silicon carbide-copper oxide carbon, SiC-CuO/C, NC particles were
successfully prepared via a simple wet-mixing approach assisted by
ultrasonication. The two-step technique method was used to prepare
the NFs in this research. The TC and viscosity of the HyNF were investi-
gated in a set of concentrations up to 3.13 wt% for potential thermal ap-
plications in the temperature range of 298.15–353.15 K. The results
show that the thermal conductivity increases with the particle volume
fraction and temperature. The augmented thermal conductivity for the
3.13 wt% concentration HyNF was 19.3% compared to the base liquid
EG at a temperature of 353.15 K. The HyNF demonstrated a Newtonian
behavior over the range of 0.5 s−1 to 200 s−1. The viscosity was strongly
affected by the particle concentration rather than with temperature. The
increment in the viscosity ratio is about 2.07-times compared to the
base liquid viscosity at 353.15 K. In comparison with the single-
particle based NF, the nanocomposite HyNF exhibited an increase of
around a two-fold viscosity and 1.2 times TC for the same concentra-
tions. Moreover, the SiC-CuO/C provided better heat transfer over the
base liquid EG, therefore, it can be exploited for laminar-flow heat trans-
fer applications.
The authors are grateful to the University Teknologi PETRONAS,
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for funding this work through
the FRGS grant (0153AB-K01). Also, support by the PRF grant awarded
to Dr. Eswaran Padmanabhan is greatly acknowledged.
References
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