International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Modication of sandblasted plate heaters using nanouids to enhance pool

boiling critical heat ux
Bao Truong a, Lin-wen Hu b,*, Jacopo Buongiorno a, Tom McKrell a
a
b

Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, 138 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 24 May 2009
Received in revised form 30 September 2009
Available online 2 November 2009
Keywords:
Nanouids
Pool boiling
Critical heat ux
Wettability

a b s t r a c t
Nanouids are colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in homogenous base uids. Previous studies have
shown that nanouids can increase pool boiling critical heat ux (CHF) by forming a porous deposition
on the heated surface. However, questions remain whether nanoparticles can further enhance the CHF
on a passively engineered heat transfer surface, such as a sandblasted metal plate. In this study, three
water-based nanouids (diamond, zinc oxide and alumina) were used to modify sandblasted stainless
steel 316 plate heaters via boiling induced deposition. The pool boiling CHF of these pre-coated heaters
increased by up to 35% with respect to that of the bare, sandblasted heaters. The enhancements are highest for alumina and zinc oxide nanouids. Detailed surface characterization of these pre-coated heaters
showed different surface morphology depending on the type of nanouids used. Additionally, the deposited nanoparticles layers were found to alter the wettability of the heaters. Contact angle measurement
provided quantitative data to determine possible CHF enhancement based on existing correlations.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Nanouids are colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in common
base uids. Materials used for nanoparticles include chemically
stable metals (e.g., gold, silver, copper), metal oxides (e.g., alumina,
zirconia, silica, and titania) and carbon in various forms (e.g., diamond, graphite, and carbon nanotubes). Base uids used for nanouids include water, refrigerants, ethanol, and ethylene glycol.
Nanoparticles can remain dispersed without signicant agglomeration by controlling their surface properties through pH and use of
surfactants. It has also been found that nanouids can remain stable over a long period of time with little erosion and gravitational
settlement [1].
One of the most intriguing features of nanouids is their ability
to enhance the critical heat ux (CHF) signicantly. CHF increases
of up to 200% are obtained at relatively low nanoparticle concentrations, typically less than 0.1 vol% (You et al. [2] and Kim et al.
[3]). Other researchers, Vassallo et al [4], Tu et al. [5], Kim and
Kim [6], Moreno Jr. et al. [7], Bang and Chang [8], Milanova et al.
[9], Jackson et al. [10] and Wen and Ding [11], have also measured
CHF enhancement of varying magnitudes with different nanoparticle materials and a wide range of concentrations. However, there is
still no consensus on the boiling heat transfer rate of nanouids. A
summary of these studies is provided in Table 1.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 617 258 5860; fax: +1 617 253 7300.
E-mail address: lwhu@mit.edu (L.-w. Hu).
0017-9310/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2009.10.002

Another common nding in most of these studies is the formation of a porous layer on the heater due to nanoparticle deposition
during boiling. For example, nanoparticle depositions on heater
surfaces are reported by Bang and Chang [8] and Kim et al. [12].
Also, Liu and Qui [13] reported a thin sorption layer on the heated
surface when a nanouid jet impinges on the surface. The deposition of nanoparticles was found to change the morphology and
properties (e.g., roughness and wettability) of the heater surface.
Since the thermophysical properties (surface tension, thermal conductivity, viscosity, evaporation heat, specic heat, and density) of
low volume concentration nanouids are similar to those of pure
water, these changes in surface morphology and properties are believed to be the main mechanism for the CHF enhancement of
nanouids.
While surface modication to enhance CHF and heat transfer is
well known, the use of nanouid boiling deposition is relatively
new because research in nanouids has only captured wide interests in the last decade. Nanouids have also consistently shown
signicant CHF enhancements, however, questions remain
whether nanoparticles can further increase the CHF on an already
enhanced heat transfer surface, such as a sandblasted metal plate.
It should be noted that sandblasted surfaces have been shown
in previous studies to enhance heat transfer compared to polished
surfaces. For example, Jacob and Fritz [14] (as cited in Collier and
Thome [15]) was one of the rst researchers to measure enhanced
boiling heat transfer and CHF for sandblasted and other treated
surfaces. Fagerholm et al. [16] measured boiling heat transfer of

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

Nomenclature
A
C
g
hfg
I
q00
r
T
V

surface area (m2)

constant in Eq. (2)
gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
latent heat of vaporization (J/kg)
current (A)
heat ux (W/m2)
electrical resistance (ohm)
temperature (C)
voltage (V)

q
r
h

Greek symbols
a
temperature coefcient of resistance (C1)
j
constant in Eq. (4)

Table 1
Summary of effect of nanouids on critical heat ux and boiling heat transfer rate
reported in the literature.
Reference

Nanouid

Maximum CHF
enhancement (%)

Heat transfer
rate

You et al. [2]

Kim et al. [3]
Vassallo et al.
[4]
Tu et al. [5]
Kim and Kim
[6]
Moreno Jr.
et al. [7]

Al2O3 in water
TiO2 in water
SiO2 in water

200
200
60

Unchanged
Not reported
Unchanged

Al2O3 in water
TiO2 in water

67
50

Enhanced
Not reported

Al2O3, ZnO in
water
Al2O3 in ethylene
glycol
Al2O3 in water

200

Unchanged

50

Deteriorated

SiO2, CeO2, Al2O3

170

Unchanged

Bang and
Chang [8]
Milanova et al.
[9]
Jackson et al.
[10]
Wen and Ding
[11]
Kim et al. [12]

Au (3 nm) in water 175

Deteriorated

Al2O3 in water

Enhanced

40

Al2O3, SiO2, ZrO2 in 80

water

Deteriorated

plain and porous tube (sandblasted and other coating) in falling

lm ow using R114 and found that the heat transfer coefcient
of the modied surface was up to 10 times higher than that of
the smooth tube. Frieser and Reeber [17] also found that sandblasted, and sandblasted/etched silicon surface have higher heat
transfer due to higher nucleation rate compared to that of a polished surface. Trepp and Hoffmann [18] showed that surface treated by sandblasting and then galvanizing has higher heat transfer
rate in liquid nitrogen compare to that of a smooth surface. They
also observed that the treated surface have a lot of smaller bubbles
generated at much higher frequency compared to a smooth surface. However, Cieslinski [19] compared boiling curve of a sandblasted stainless steel tubes to that of a smooth tube but found
no CHF enhancement.
This experimental study is an attempt to elucidate the merits of
using nanouids to enhance CHF of sandblasted surfaces. In this
study, three nanouids (diamond, zinc oxide and alumina) were
used to pre-treat sandblasted plates via boiling enhanced deposition. These modied heater surfaces were then used to measure
CHF in water to determine pool boiling CHF enhancement compared to that of bare sandblasted plate heaters. Finally, detailed
characterizations of the modied surfaces provided insights to
the possible CHF enhancement mechanism.

angle of heater orientation ()

density (kg/m3)
surface tension (N/m)
contact angle ()

Subscripts
CHF
critical heat ux
f
uid
g
gas
o
initial
w
wall

2. Experiments
2.1. Pool boiling facility
A pool boiling facility was used to perform the coating of the
plate heater and to measure the CHF of water on the coated heaters. The schematic of the facility is depicted in Fig. 1. Here, a glass
test cell of dimensions 10.2 cm  15.2 cm  20.3 cm sits in the
middle of an isothermal bath equipped with an electric heater.
The test cell contains either deionized water or nanouid, preheated in a microwave before each test.
The constant uid temperature in the test cell is maintained by
using an isothermal bath. In addition, a reux condenser on top of
the test cell prevents uid loss due to evaporation. The heater is
immersed in the liquid in the test cell and connected to two copper
electrodes of approximately 0.500 in diameter. In series with the
heater is a shunt resistor (100 mV  800 A), which determines
the electric current in the system. The accuracy of the shunt used
was 0.25% over its entire working range of 800 A. Heating up of
the shunt was considered negligible since the maximum current
through the system was 300 A in all experiments, which is far below the rated current for the shunt. In addition, the current measured by the shunt was veried by the digital current readout
from the power supply. Power is supplied to the heater via a DC
power supply (20 V  500 A). The two voltage taps measure the
voltages across the heater and the shunt resistor. Two K-type thermocouples are used to measure the temperatures of the uids in
the isothermal bath and in the test cell. All data are collected using
a Data Acquisition System (DAQ).

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of pool boiling CHF facility.

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

The plate heater (shown in Fig. 2) was made of 316 stainless

steel (SS316), and the boiling face was facing upward. The center
rectangular section exposed to uid has the dimensions of
7 cm  0.5 cm. The circular parts on both ends are covered with
copper blocks during the experiment. The thickness of the heater
plate is 1.2 mm, which was chosen to ensure sufcient axial heat
transfer to prevent localized burn out when CHF occurs. The bottom and the side of the plate heater are insulated with high temperature silicone. The insulation prevents heat transfer from the
bottom or side surfaces, which can introduce uncertainty in CHF
calculation. The plate heater, with ends sandwiched between two
copper blocks, is connected to the copper electrodes as shown in
Fig. 2. The copper blocks allow better electrical conduction between the plate heater and the electrodes, thus ensuring that the
heat is generated only in the rectangular section of the plate.
2.2. Nanouids properties
The nanouids used to pre-condition the sandblasted plate
heaters were prepared by diluting concentrated nanouids
procured from commercial vendors. The concentrated diamond
nanouids (4 wt%) was purchased from PlasmaChem GmbH, and
zinc oxide (30 wt%) and alumina (20 wt%) from Nyacol Nano
Technologies Inc. The particle sizes and the thermophysical properties of the diluted nanouids were measured. The surface tension and thermal conductivity were measured using a Sigma703
tensiometer (KSV Instruments Ltd.) and a KD2 thermal properties
analyzer (Decagon Devices), respectively. A Cannon 50 Y733 capillary viscometer was used to determine the viscosity of the nanouids. Finally, dynamic light scattering was used to measure the
particle size dispersed in the uids. The results are listed in Table
2. The average size of the alumina and zinc oxide nanoparticles

Table 2
Measured water and nanouid properties at room temperature.
Nanouids

Mean
particle size
specied/
measured
(10 nm)

Thermal
conductivity
(0.2 W/m C)

Surface
tension
(0.2 mN/m)

Kinematic
viscosity  106
(0.02 m2/s)

Water
Diamond
(0.01 vol%)
Alumina
(0.1 vol%)
Zinc oxide
(0.1 vol%)

N/A
4/143

0.60
0.60

72.1
72.6

1.01
1.06

50/42

0.62

73.1

1.03

70/75

0.61

66.5

1.06

are within the vendor specication, but that of diamond nanoparticles is much larger, probably due to agglomeration. Nevertheless, the thermophysical properties of all nanouids were
similar to those of water, which is expected for dilute nanouids.
The nanouid concentrations used for pre-coating were 0.01 vol%
for diamond, and 0.1 vol% for alumina and zinc oxide. The diamond nanouid concentration was lower than zinc oxide and alumina because of high cost and the low as-purchased
concentration. The pre-coating heat uxes applied to the plate
heaters were 1 MW/m2 for diamond and 0.5 MW/m2 for alumina
and zinc oxide. The heat ux was higher for diamond nanouid
because from previous studies in our lab diamond nanoparticles
did not adhere well to a SS316 metal surface at the lower heat
uxes compared to metal oxide nanoparticles. The duration of
the pre-coating process was 45 min for all experiments. These
coated plates were then used immediately after the coating process to measure CHF in water.
2.3. Experimental procedures
In a typical experiment, the uid in the isothermal bath and the
test cell are rst brought up to saturation temperature (100 C).
The power is then supplied to the heater in a constant current
mode until CHF is reached. The step increase in power is reduced
as the heat ux approaches CHF. There is a 6-min wait time between each step to ensure achievement of thermal equilibrium in
the plate and in the bath. The heat ux can be calculated using
the following equation:

q00

IV
A

where I and V are the current and the voltage across the heater,
respectively. A is the heat transfer area of the heater.
First, the CHF in water was measured using bare sandblasted
SS316 plates to establish a base line. The subsequent experiments
involved pre-coating sandblasted SS316 plates by boiling in nanouids at a constant heat ux level. After the plates were coated, the
CHF in water was measured using these pre-coated plates with the
same procedure used for the bare sandblasted plates.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Experimental results

Fig. 2. Insulated plate (top) and connection of plate heater to electrodes (bottom).

Measured CHF values of water with bare sandblasted plates and

sandblasted plates pre-coated with different nanoparticles are
shown in Fig. 3. The uncertainty of the CHF measurements is less
than 10% (error bar in Fig. 3) where the error was propagated from
the experimental uncertainties in the voltage and current measurements, as well as the dimensions of the plate.
The average CHF of water with bare heater (sandblasted without nanoparticle coating) is 1.42 0.068 (one standard deviation)

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

MW/m2, which is higher than the calculated CHF value of 1.10

1.26 MW/m2 using the well-known Kutaleladze [20] and Zuber
[21] correlation for a horizontal plate heater, shown in the equation below, where the constant C ranges between 0.131 and 0.149.

q00CHF C qg hfg

"
#1
gqf  qg r 4

q2g

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images in the next section will

show that these sandblasted surfaces have a lot more micro-features than the non-sandblasted surfaces.
The CHF with diamond pre-coated plate is 1.59 0.042 MW/m2.
The CHF enhancement of diamond pre-coated plates is about 11%.
As shown in Fig. 3, this is only marginally higher than the measurement errors. Zinc oxide and alumina-coated plates, on the other
hand, gave similar CHF values, 1.92 0.053 MW/m2 and
1.91 0.012 MW/m2, respectively. These are approximately 35%
higher than the values for the sandblasted plates. While this CHF
enhancement is relatively low compared to other CHF enhancement with nanouids reported in the literature, it should be noted
here that the base case with sandblasted plates already has high
CHF values. The fact that nanoparticle deposition can further improve CHF for sandblasted surfaces offers encouraging evidence
that nanoparticle surface pre-treatment may benet other types
of engineered surfaces. Surface characterization of the pre-coated
surfaces, discussed below, will provide insights on the effect of surface properties on CHF.
While the CHF was the main focus of this study. Boiling curves
were also obtained from the experiments to compare the heat
transfer rate of nanoparticle pre-coated surface, with the temperature of the plate is deduced from the measured resistivity using
equation below.


T


r
1
1
T
r0
a 0

Here T is the plate temperature, r is the electrical resistance, and a is

the temperature coefcient of resistance. T0 and r0 are the initial
values of the temperature and resistance of the plate, respectively.
The error for the temperature measurement is estimated to be
12%. The representative boiling curves for the bare sandblasted
plate and the pre-coated plate are shown in Fig. 4. The boiling
curves show that there is no signicant change in heat transfer coefcient from the bare to the pre-coated plate.
3.2. Heater surface characterization
To understand why larger CHF enhancements were observed for
alumina and zinc oxide pre-coated plates but not for diamond pre-

Fig. 3. CHF of water with different plate surface nish.

Fig. 4. Representative boiling curves for bare and nanoparticle pre-coated plates.

coated plates, surface characterization was performed after the

CHF experiments. SEM and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
were used to assess the change in surface morphology and to identify the elemental composition of the coating layer. Confocal
microscopy was used to measure the three-dimensional surface
prole of the heaters, which allowed one to obtain the average surface roughness as well as the surface area ratio (ratio of actual area
over the projected area). Finally, contact angle measurements were
used to evaluate the surface wettability, which is known to be an
important factor on CHF [12].
3.2.1. Surface morphology characterization
The surface morphology of the heaters is characterized using
SEM and confocal microscopy. In Fig. 5, SEM and confocal images
of the sandblasted plate are compared to those of the as-received
surface. The sandblasted plate surface has a lot more peak-and-valley features compared to the as-received surface. The maximum
height of the sandblasted surfaces is up to 12 lm while that of
the as-received surface is only up to 5.2 lm according to the confocal images. This may explain why the CHF of sandblasted is higher than the expected value for a smooth surface.
Fig. 6 shows representative SEM images and the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) spectra for the sandblasted plate
and plates coated by diamond, alumina and zinc oxide nanoparticles. The EDS conrms that the coating consists of the nanoparticles in the respective nanouids. For each material type, the
surface morphology is relatively consistent between different
tests. However, the coating pattern is different depending on
the nanoparticles used. For example, the diamond nanoparticle
coating is rather sporadic. The base sandblasted surface can be
detected by EDS, indicating the diamond coating is not uniform.
This is probably the reason why the diamond coated plates did
not result in a large CHF enhancement. Alumina coating is better
but some parts of the substrate are not completely covered. Overall, zinc oxide nanoparticles provided the most uniform coating
because none of the base material was detected by the EDS. More
detailed SEM images of the pre-coated plates are shown in Fig. 7.
The alumina coating is made up of small quasi-spherical aggregates while the zinc oxide and the diamond coatings seem to
comprise actual layers of fused nanoparticles. Both alumina
and zinc oxide coating layers seems more uniform than that of
diamond layer.
3.2.2. Surface roughness measurement
Confocal microscopy was used to measure the surface area ratio
as well as the average surface roughness. The protocol for this measurement is that two random locations of area 256 lm by 256 lm

B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

89

Fig. 5. SEM (left) and confocal microscopy (right) images of sandblasted (top) and as-received (bottom) SS316 plates.

are measured for each pre-coated plate. This was done to determine whether signicant variation of roughness exists on a given
plate. Confocal microscopy allows one to obtain the 3D prole of
an area on a plate as shown in Fig. 8. All the pre-coated sandblasted
plates appear to have a similar prole, featuring many peaks and
valleys. The non-coated bare sandblasted surface is rough as well,
but its patterns seem to differ from those of the nanoparticlecoated surfaces. The data of average surface roughness and surface
area ratio are listed in Table 3. Here, SRa denotes the average surface roughness. The projected area is the area of the at surface of
interest, while the actual area takes into account all the peaks and
valleys. The ratio of these two areas is known as the surface area
ratio, which can either increase or decrease the contact angle of a
surface depending on the initial contact angle [22].
The average surface roughness seems to be a little bit higher for
the coated plates compared to the bare heaters. Zinc oxide coated
plates have the highest SRa (approximately two times the value of
the base case), while alumina and diamond coated plates have a
slightly higher SRa. However, higher SRa does not necessarily correspond to higher area ratio. In fact, the overall trend observed
here is that the coating of the nanoparticle does not dramatically
change the roughness ratio compared to the base sandblasted surface. If the surface area ratio is unchanged, the contact angle can
only be modied by changing the surface energy through modication of the surface chemical composition. However, since surface
energies of diamond, alumina, and zinc oxide are not readily available in the literature, the next logical step is to measure the contact
angle of water directly on these pre-treated surfaces. It is known
that the contact angle is a measure of surface wettability, which
has an effect on CHF.

the contact angles on both sides of the droplet. For each plate heater, the contact angle was measured at two locations away from
the point where CHF occurred. In addition, measurements were taken when the droplet of water just touched the surface (t = 0) as
well as after 1.5 min (t = 1.5 min), to determine any variability of
the contact angle with time. The size of the droplets was between
0.7 and 1.0 mm in diameter. All measurements were performed at
room temperature. Table 4 lists average values of the contact angle
measured at time t = 0 and t = 1.5 min, each based on three measurements. The uncertainty of the measurement is 5. The standard deviations of different contact angle measurements on the
same surface were between 10 and 15. The average and the standard deviation were calculated without including the outliers. The
measurement was considered an outliner if it deviated by more
than two standard deviations from the average. Outliers occurred
when a surface was believed to have been contaminated.
Fig. 9 shows representative images of the contact angles measured on different surfaces. The contact angle of water on the diamond coated plate is a bit lower than bare sandblasted plate but
higher than that on the alumina-coated plate. This applies to both
time t = 0, when the drop just touched the plate, and after 1.5 min.
The contact angle change due to evaporation after 1.5 min was
quantied on an ultra-smooth surface and determined to be <5.
At t = 1.5 min, the angle generally decreased mainly due to the
spreading of the droplet. The spreading of the droplet corresponds
to improved wettability, which generally lead to higher CHF, as
will be demonstrated in the following section. Furthermore, it
should be noted that contact angles are nil in some measurements
of the zinc oxide coated surfaces after 1.5 min which indicated
excellent wettability.

3.2.3. Contact angle measurement

Contact angles were measured using a VCA 2000 Contact Angle
Surface Analysis system. The basic operation consisted of placing a
droplet of liquid (deionized water in this case) on the surface of
interest. Images of the liquid droplet were then taken by a
charge-couple device (CCD) camera. The system software analyzed

3.3. Data interpretation and discussion

Kim and Kim [23] reported CHF enhancement due to nanoparticle deposition on the heated metal wire surface. In their experiment, TiO2 nanoparticle-coated NiCr wires were prepared
through boiling nanouids of various concentration; the coated

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

Fig. 6. Representative SEM images and EDS spectra of plate heaters. From top: sandblasted, diamond pre-coated, alumina pre-coated and zinc oxide pre-coated plates.

wires were subsequently tested in water. They found CHF

enhancement of up to 200%. Up to 56% CHF enhancement in water
was also measured in our laboratory with wire heaters pre-coated
with alumina nanoparticles. However, in their experiments, the
measurement of contact angle was rather difcult due to the wire
geometry, and resulted in large uncertainty. On the other hand, the
contact angle results in this paper provide quantitative data to estimate the CHF enhancement.

The hot/dry spot theory of CHF states that when a surface is

subjected to high heat ux, hot/dry spots are formed at the bases
of the bubbles growing at the nucleation sites. When the hot/dry
spots can be rewetted upon departure of the bubbles, they are considered reversible. However, when the rewetting does not occur
due to poor wettability of the surface, the hot/dry spot is irreversible, which can lead to a rapid increase in the surface temperature,
and causes burn out. To assess the importance of the wettability

B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

Fig. 7. Higher magnication SEM images of different pre-coated plates compared to the bare plate.

Fig. 8. Confocal microscopy images: 3D proles of the pre-coated plates with their associated peak height in z-direction (scan area of 256 lm by 256 lm).

91

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

Table 3
Confocal microscopy data for pre-coated plate heaters.
SRa (lm)

Surface nish
Sandblasted
Diamond coated (#1)

1.36
1.91
2.07
1.73
1.62
2.00
1.70
1.42
1.37
1.98
1.42
1.38
1.46
1.97
1.87
1.89
2.46
2.42
3.04

Diamond coated (#2)

Diamond coated (#3)
Alumina coated (#1)
Alumina coated (#2)
Alumina coated (#3)
Zinc Oxide coated (#1)
Zinc Oxide coated (#2)
Zinc Oxide coated (#3)
a

Projected area PA (lm2)

Actual area AA (lm2)

Area ratio (AA/PA)

51,043
68,013
67,880
51,093
51,027
68,013
67,880
67,747
67,880
67,880
67,889
68,013
67,880
50,744
67,880
68,013
67,747
67,880
67,747

70,697
97,777
100,629
69,477
68,911
100,089
92,197
98,172
98,172
103,954
102,287
97,802
99,232
69,249
97,043
96,068
96,295
99,517
105,738

1.39a
1.44
1.48
1.36
1.35
1.47
1.36
1.45
1.45
1.53
1.51
1.44
1.46
1.36
1.43
1.41
1.42
1.47
1.56

Average values of multiple measurements.

Table 4
Contact angles of water on different heater surfaces (5).
Surface

At time t = 0 min

At time t = 1.5 min

Sandblasted bare
Diamond coated
Alumina coated
Zinc oxide coated

94
74
43
44

67
48
18
13

j 1

effect, the model proposed by Theofanous and Dinh [24] was used,
which considers the micro-hydrodynamics of the solidliquidvapor line at the boundary of a hot/dry spot. This model postulates
that CHF occurs when the evaporation recoil force, which drives
the liquid meniscus to recede, becomes larger than the surface tension force, and drives the meniscus to advance and rewet the hot/
dry spot. The following expression was derived to predict CHF [24]:

"

rqf  qg g
q00CHF j1=2 qg hfg
q2g

Here j is a surface-dependent parameter, which is large for a poor

wetting surface but small for highly wetted surface. However, an
analytical expression for j was not provided. Kim et al. [12] derived
an expression for j using elementary geometry and Lord Rayleighs
formula for the volume of static liquid meniscus:

#1=4
4

sin h p=2  h

2
2 cos h

1=2
5

The above expression is only applicable for hydrophilic surfaces or

contact angle, h, less than 90. Using Eq. (5), it is predicted that a
maximum CHF enhancement of about 160% can be achieved when
the contact angle is changed from 80 (typical measured contact angle for stainless steel) to 0. This predicted maximum CHF enhancement is consistent with the experimental data reported in the
literature.
Another correlation relating contact angle to critical heat ux
was derived by Kandlikar [25]:

q00CHF qg1=2 hfg


 
1=2 h
i1=4
1 cos h
2 p
 1 cos h cos/
rgqf  qg
16
p 4
6

Fig. 9. Representative contact angles of water on pre-coated surfaces at t = 0.

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B. Truong et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 8594

4. Conclusion
Nanouids (diamond/water, zinc oxide/water and alumina/
water) were used to produce a thin layer of nanoparticle coating
on sandblasted plate heaters via boiling deposition. The CHF
enhancements obtained in this study are lower than those previously reported in the literature for untreated/smooth surfaces
boiled in nanouids. However, this study offers encouraging proof
that nanoparticle coatings can further improve CHF for passive
engineered surfaces, such as sandblasted plates. The CHF enhancement of diamond coated plates is about 11%, considering the measurement uncertainties this is only marginally higher than that of
the bare sandblasted plate. However, zinc oxide and aluminacoated plates yielded higher CHF values, approximately 35% higher
than the bare sandblasted plate. Surface characterization of the
plate heaters revealed that the coating patterns differ depending
on the type of nanoparticles used. The metal oxide nanoparticles
produced a more uniform coating, while the diamond nanoparticle

Fig. 10. CHF ratio as a function of nal contact angle with initial contact angle of
80.

Kandlikar - int=94 at t=0

Contact Angle at t=0
Kandlikar - int=67 at t=1.5m

2.5

Contact Angle at t=1.5m

CHF Ratio

Here h is the contact angle and / is the heater orientation angle relative to the horizontal. Eq. (6) applies for all values of the contact
angle. Fig. 10 shows the CHF enhancement ratio according to the
correlations in Eqs. (5) and (6) for a surface with initial contact angle of 80.
The maximum CHF enhancement predicted by Eq. (6) is about
100% for a horizontal surface, which is lower than that calculated
by Eq. (5). Notice that higher contact angle corresponds to lower
CHF. The heater in vertical orientation has lower CHF enhancement
compared to the horizontal heater (boiling surfaces facing upward). The effect of heater orientation diminishes when the surface
becomes hydrophobic (h > 90). The above considerations suggest
that an increase in surface wettability can bring about an increase
in CHF. Furthermore, the theoretical prediction of maximum CHF
enhancement up to 160% (according to Eq. (4) if h = 80 originally)
is consistent with experimental observation of previous nanouid
studies.
Taking the contact angle values in Table 4, and plotting them
against the measured CHF enhancement, the experimental data
seem to follow the same trend as the Kandlikar correlation as
shown in Fig. 11. This was observed for contact angles measured
both at time t = 0 and t = 1.5 min. Nevertheless, the trend in CHF
enhancement vs. measured contact angle seems to agree reasonably well. This implies that wettability is a major parameter that
affects CHF but it does not act alone.

ZnO

Alumina

1.5

Diamond
ZnO

Alumina

Diamond
0.5
10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Final
Fig. 11. Comparison between experimental data and correlation.

coating was found to be irregular. Confocal microscopy showed

that the changes in surface roughness and surface area ratio were
not signicant. However, the nanoparticle coating did signicantly
alter the wettability of the metal oxide coated heater surfaces. This
change in wettability helped to enhance CHF as predicted by some
existing theories/correlations relating CHF to wettability.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by Electric Power Research Institute
(EPRI) Contract No. EP-P24367/C11807. Comments and suggestions by Dr. Heather Feldman of EPRI are gratefully acknowledged.
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