Analysis of the thermal conductivity of the aqueous-based TiO₂ nanofluid for nuclear applications

This work aims to investigate the thermophysical properties of TiO₂ nanofluids in water base experimentally and also comparing results to the literature. Existing studies indicate that nanofluids presents increase in thermal conductivity compared to the base fluid which in this study will be water, thus, can be classified as promising fluids for heat transport applications. As the proposal is to use it in nuclear applications, the survey of experimental measurements was performed before and after irradiation in the IPEN installations to verify the effect of ionizing radiation on the properties of nanofluids. Thermal conductivity , viscosity and some visualization of nanoparticles in SEM were carried out in order to understand the behavior of radiation influence on nanofluids and it properties. (author)