Xiao, X orcid.org/0000-0003-0718-2591, Zhang, G, Ding, Y et al. (1 more author) (2019) Rheological Characteristics of Molten Salt Seeded with Al₂O₃ Nanopowder and Graphene for Concentrated Solar Power. Energies, 12 (3). 467. ISSN 1996-1073
Abstract
HITEC salt (NaNO₂-NaO₃-KNO₃) and solar salt (NaO₃-KNO₃) are typical molten salts used in concentrated solar power. Adding nanoparticles is an effective method to improve the thermo-physical properties of pure salt. It is indispensable to experimentally study the rheological behaviours of salt seeded with nanoparticles, which can increase the specific heat capacity of pure salt. In this work, the viscosities of HITEC salt were measured with different shear rates in the temperature range of 200 °C to 450 °C firstly, while those of solar salt were measured in the temperature range of 250 °C to 500 °C. The experimental data showed reasonable agreement with the literature correlations, which verify the Newtonian behaviours of pure salts. The evolutions of the viscosities of nanocomposites in the same temperature range were measured and analysed, where the nanocomposites were synthesized with 1 wt.% or 2 wt.% Al₂O₃ nanopowder and graphene, respectively. Results showed that the addition of Al2O₃ nanopowder had relatively little effect on viscosity, and the variations were about −35.4%~8.1% for the HITEC salt nanocomposites and −9.2%~68.1% for the solar salt nanocomposites. While graphene would apparently increase the viscosities of HITEC salt and solar salt, HITEC salt with the addition of graphene showed slight non-Newtonian fluid behaviour.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | molten salt; aluminium oxide nanopowder; graphene; rheological behaviour |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Feb 2019 15:26 |
Last Modified: | 19 Feb 2019 15:26 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/en12030467 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:142700 |