Effect of combined nanoparticle and polymeric dispersions on critical heat flux, nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficient, and coating adhesion

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to determine thermal performance and adhesion effects of a combined nanoparticle and polymeric dispersion coating. The critical heat flux (CHF) values and nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficients (HTC) of nickel wires pre-coated using 1.0% alumina, 0.1% alumina, 500ppm polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH), and 0.1% alumina combined with 500ppm PAH dispersions were determined using the pool-boiling method. The adhesion of 0.1% alumina and combined 0.1% alumina and 500ppm PAH coatings was evaluated using the tape and modified bend test methods. Results of the pool boiling experiments showed that the wire heaters pre-coated with combined 0.1% alumina and 500ppm PAH dispersion increase the CHF in water by -40% compared to bare wire heaters, compared to an enhancement of -37% with a 0.1% alumina coating. The combined 0.1% alumina and 500ppm PAH dispersion degrades the wire HTC by less than 1%, compared to a degradation of over 26% with a 0.1% alumina coating. Results from the tape test indicate qualitatively that the combined 0.1% alumina and 500ppm PAH dispersion coating adheres better than the 0.1% alumina nanoparticle coating. Results from the modified bend test showed that the combined 0.1% alumina and 500ppm PAH dispersion coating did not fail at the failure strain of the 0.1% alumina nanoparticle coating (8.108x 10-4). The addition of PAH to alumina nanofluid for creating a nanoparticle coating through boiling deposition was found to improve both coating thermal performance and adhesion over the pure alumina nanofluid.