Effective ultrasonication process for better colloidal dispersion of nanofluid

Mahbubul IM 1 , Saidur R 2 , Amalina MA 1 , Elcioglu EB 3 , Okutucu-Ozyurt T 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: saidur@um.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Dumlupinar Bulvari, No. 1, 06800 Ankara, Turkey; Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Sivrihisar Vocational School, Mechanics Programme, Eskisehir Cad No. 140, Sivrihisar, Eskisehir, Turkey
  • 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Dumlupinar Bulvari, No. 1, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
Ultrason Sonochem, 2015 Sep;26:361-9.
PMID: 25616639 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2015.01.005

Abstract

Improving dispersion stability of nanofluids through ultrasonication has been shown to be effective. Determining specific conditions of ultrasonication for a certain nanofluid is necessary. For this purpose, nanofluids of varying nanoparticle concentrations were prepared and studied to find out a suitable and rather mono-dispersed concentration (i.e., 0.5 vol.%, determined through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses). This study aims to report applicable ultrasonication conditions for the dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles within H2O through the two-step production method. The prepared samples were ultrasonicated via an ultrasonic horn for 1-5h at two different amplitudes (25% and 50%). The microstructure, particle size distribution (PSD), and zeta potentials were analyzed to investigate the dispersion characteristics. Better particle dispersion, smaller aggregate sizes, and higher zeta potentials were observed at 3 and 5h of ultrasonication duration for the 50% and 25% of sonicator power amplitudes, respectively.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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