Thermophysical properties of water-based nano-emulsion of tricosane - An Experimental investigation
C.J. Ho, Shun-Ren Jheng, Tien-Fu Yang, Farzad Pourfattah, Wei-Mon Yan
Abstract
In this work, experimental study was performed to measure the thermophysical properties of water-based nano-emulsion of phase change material (tricosane). The particle size distribution, the dynamic viscosity, the thermal conductivity and the specific heat of the emulsion in the different mass fraction of the phase change material (PCM) over the temperature range of 20–60 °C were measured. Based on the results, the thermophysical properties of the based fluid are strongly affected by the phase change progress of the PCM. Measured results show that the dynamic viscosity of the water-based PCM nano-emulsion in the heating process is lower than that in the cooling process. Besides, the higher the mass fraction of the PCM is, the larger the dynamic viscosity is. In the temperature ranges of 20–40 °C and 40–60 °C, the temperature change on the thermal conductivity is insignificant. However, in the phase change temperature range, the thermal conductivity increases considerably.