Abstract Electrostatic atomization has been widely applied in engineering, but few investigations on electrostatic atomization of liquid containing nanoparticles were carried out. This paper first presents the electrostatic atomization characteristics of nano-Al/ethanol nanofluid fuel and evaluates the contribution of nanoparticles to atomization characteristics. The physical properties of nano-Al/ethanol nanofluid were measured, suggesting that the density, surface tension and viscosity increase with enhancing the nano-Al concentration. The effects of the applied electric field voltage U, volume flow Q and nozzle size on electrostatic breakup of nanofluid jet and droplet formation were investigated in detail. It concludes that the average droplet diameter d follows a Q 1/2 law. The average diameter decreases significantly with the enhancement of the electric field voltage ranging with 17–25 kV. The decrease of nozzle size results in a reduction in average diameter of atomized droplets at critical breakup voltage. The nanofluid fuel of higher concentration exerted by the electrical field has a better atomization performance. When the nano-Al concentration reached 5.0 mg/ml, the atomized droplets became ultrafine and uniformly distributive. In comparison to 0.5 mg/ml, the average diameter can be reduced to one tenth (∼9 μm).

中文翻译：

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纳米铝/乙醇纳米流体燃料在静电场中的雾化特性

摘要 静电雾化在工程中得到了广泛的应用，但对含有纳米颗粒的液体的静电雾化研究较少。本文首先介绍了纳米铝/乙醇纳米流体燃料的静电雾化特性，并评估了纳米颗粒对雾化特性的贡献。测量了纳米铝/乙醇纳米流体的物理性质，表明密度、表面张力和粘度随着纳米铝浓度的增加而增加。详细研究了外加电场电压 U、体积流量 Q 和喷嘴尺寸对纳米流体射流静电破裂和液滴形成的影响。得出的结论是平均液滴直径 d 遵循 Q 1/2 定律。平均直径随着电场电压的增强而显着减小，范围为 17-25 kV。喷嘴尺寸的减小导致临界破裂电压下雾化液滴的平均直径减小。电场施加的浓度越高的纳米流体燃料具有更好的雾化性能。当纳米铝浓度达到 5.0 mg/ml 时，雾化液滴变得超细且分布均匀。与 0.5 mg/ml 相比，平均直径可以减小到十分之一（~9 μm）。当纳米铝浓度达到 5.0 mg/ml 时，雾化液滴变得超细且分布均匀。与 0.5 mg/ml 相比，平均直径可以减小到十分之一（~9 μm）。当纳米铝浓度达到 5.0 mg/ml 时，雾化液滴变得超细且分布均匀。与 0.5 mg/ml 相比，平均直径可以减小到十分之一（~9 μm）。