Alumina nanoparticles enhance the flow boiling critical heat flux of water at low pressure

Many studies have shown that addition of nanosized particles to water enhances the critical heat flux (CHF) in pool boiling. The resulting colloidal dispersions are known in the literature as nanofluids. However for most potential applications of nanofluids the situation of interest is flow boiling. This technical note presents first-of-a-kind data for flow boiling CHF in nanofluids. It is shown that a significant CHF enhancement (up to similar to 30%) can be achieved with as little as 0.01% by volume concentration of alumina nanoparticles in flow experiments at atmospheric pressure, low subcooling (<20 degrees C), and relatively high mass flux (>= 1000 kg/m(2) s).