The aim of this study is to determine the upper limitations of the particle volume fraction for heat transfer performance of TiO₂–water nanofluids in microchannels. Nanofluids were prepared by the addition of TiO₂ metallic nanoparticles into distilled water chosen as base fluid at five different volumetric ratios (0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%). The effects of the Reynolds number (100–750) and particle volume fraction at constant microchannel height (200 μm) on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were analyzed experimentally. Adding metallic oxide particles with nano dimensions into the base fluid did not cause excessive increase of friction coefficient but provided higher heat transfer than that of pure water. It was also observed that water–TiO₂ nanofluid increased heat transfer up to 2.0 vol%, but heat transfer decreased after 2.0 vol%. Furthermore, the thermal resistance was calculated and it was seen that adding nanoparticles with an average diameter smaller than 25 nm into the base fluid caused the thermal resistance to decrease.

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of water based CuO nanofluid inside a horizontal tube were investigated experimentally. The upper limitation of the particle volume fraction with respect to heat transfer performance was also found. CuO‐water nanofluids with volume fractions of 0.5%, 1%, 2%, and 4% were prepared by dispersing the CuO nanoparticles with an average diameter of 33 nm into deionised water. Experiments were carried out under the steady‐state, constant heat flux, and turbulent flow regime conditions. The variations of the average Nusselt number and the friction factor with the Reynolds number were presented. For all given particle volume concentrations, heat transfer enhancements were calculated. It was concluded that the particle volume concentrations higher than 1% vol. were not appropriate with respect to the heat transfer performance of the CuO‐water nanofluid. No heat transfer enhancement was observed at Re = 4.000. The highest heat transfer enhancement was achieved at Re = 16.000 and ф = 0.005.