Effect of aging and interaction of cooling fluid with heat exchangers material in long-lasting durability test

Abstract

Efforts to improve engine cooling efficiency by usage of heat exchanger as well as research on cooling fluids composition and properties are well described. Studies on heat exchangers are focused mainly on their durability properties, while cooling fluids development is lately concentrating on nanofluids. In this paper physicochemical properties changes of diluted glycol-based cooling fluid in a long-term durability test of vehicle heat exchanger, were investigated. Following parameters were measured: density of coolant, pH value, elements content in coolant, and reserve alkalinity. Above mentioned analyses were performed on samples collected both in the beginning and periodically after every 500 hours of durability test which lasted for 3000 hours in total. The performed study leads to conclusion that interaction of cooling fluid with material of heat exchanger and changes in glycol composition during long-lasting durability test allows to determine aging effect of applied glycol solution on heat exchanger wear.

Keywords

• glycol chemical-physical properties
• cooling fluid
• heat exchanger
• corrosion resistance