Solid–liquid phase transition of nanofluids

Effects of mass concentration of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) and cooling rate on the solidification of water-based nanofluids (NFs) were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). At a given cooling rate, the phase transition temperature, phase transition time and enthalpy of the NFs first increased and then decreased as mass concentration of TiO2 NPs increased, and the effect was more significant at low cooling rates than at high cooling rates. Mechanisms for these phenomena were analyzed.