Preparation and Enhancement of Thermal Conductivity of Heat Transfer Oil-Based MoS2 Nanofluids

The lipophilic MoS2 nanoparticles are synthesized by surface modification with stearic acid (SA). The heat transfer oil-based nanofluids, with the mass fraction of lipophilic nanoparticles varying from 0.25% up to 1.0%, are prepared and their thermal conductivity is determined at temperatures ranging from 40 to 200°C using an apparatus based on the laser flash method. It has been found that the nanofluids have higher thermal conductivity and the thermal conductivity enhancement increased not only with increasing mass fraction of nanoparticles, but also with increasing temperature in the range 40–180°C The results show a 38.7% enhancement of the thermal conductivity of MoS2 nanofluid with only 1.0% mass fraction at 180°C.