Determination of Rheological Behavior of Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid and Development of New Viscosity Correlations

Experimental investigations have been carried out to study the rheological behavior of aluminum oxide nanofluid. Nanoparticles with average particle size of 53 nm were dispersed in a base fluid of 60% (by mass) of ethylene glycol and water. Nanofluids of volumetric concentrations 1 to 10% were tested for determining the viscous properties. It was found that this nanofluid behaved as non-Newtonian at lower temperatures (-35°C to 0°C) and Newtonian at higher temperatures (0°C to 90°C). The data showed that the viscosity increases with an increase in concentration and decreases with increase in temperature. Two new correlations were developed expressing viscosity as a function of temperature and concentration.