Viscosity of magnetic fluid in a magnetic field

Does Magnetic Field Influence the Surface Tension of Ferrofluid?

Studying the physical properties of ferrofluids is a challenging task, especially when conventional experimental techniques are adapted to the presence of a magnetic field. To date, there has been no definitive understanding of how the magnetic field affects the surface energy of ferrofluid interfaces. In this study, we perform a direct experimental investigation to assess the effect of magnetic fields on the surface tension of ferrofluids. For this purpose, a modified capillary wave technique was modified for use in the presence of an external magnetic field. A decrease in the wavelength of the capillary wave was observed when the magnetic field was oriented perpendicular to the ferrofluid surface, and an increase was recorded when the magnetic field was parallel. We note that the capillary wave pattern elongates along the magnetic field force lines. The observed effect is attributed to the varying influence of the magnetic field along and across the propagating capillary wave. Analysis of the dispersion relation and evaluation of the impacts of various mechanisms influencing capillary waves revealed, that the changes in the surface tension of ferrofluids in the presence of a magnetic field are responsible for the observed behavior. It is shown that the surface tension of the MK 8-40 ferrofluid gradually increases with the applied magnetic field and reaches a grouth up to 10% in a magnetic field of ∼10 kA/m. Thus, the surface tension is found to be influenced by an external magnetic field.

Spinning a Liquid Wheel and Driving Surface Thermomagnetic Convection with Light

A typical Tesla thermomagnetic engine employs a solid magnetic wheel to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy, while thermomagnetic convection in ferrofluid is still challenging to observe because it is a volume convection that occurs in an enclosed space. Using a water-based ferrofluid, a liquid Tesla thermomagnetic engine is demonstrated and reports the observation of thermomagnetic convection on a free surface. Both types of fluid motions are driven by light and observed by simply placing ferrofluid on a cylindrical magnet. The surface thermomagnetic convection on the free surface is made possible by eliminating the Marangoni effect, while the spinning of the liquid wheel is achieved through the solid-like behavior of the ferrofluid under a strong magnetic field. Increasing the magnetic field reveals a transition from simple thermomagnetic convection to a combination of the central spin of the spiky wheel surrounded by thermomagnetic convection in the outer region of the ferrofluid. The coupling between multiple ferrofluid wheels through a fluid bridge is further demonstrated. These demonstrations not only unveil the unique properties of ferrofluid but also provide a new platform for studying complex fluid dynamics and thermomagnetic convection, opening up exciting opportunities for light-controlled fluid actuation and soft robotics.

Magnetic Fluids: The Interaction between the Microstructure, Macroscopic Properties, and Dynamics under Different Combinations of External Influences

Magnetic fluids were historically the first active nano-dispersion material. Despite over half a century of research, interest in these nano-objects continues to grow every year. This is due to the impressive development of nanotechnology, the synthesis of nanoscale structures, and surface-active systems. The unique combination of fluidity and magnetic response allows magnetic fluids to be used in engineering devices and biomedical applications. In this review, experimental results and fundamental theoretical approaches are systematized to predict the micro- and macroscopic behavior of magnetic fluid systems under different external influences. The article serves as working material for both experienced scientists in the field of magnetic fluids and novice specialists who are just beginning to investigate this topic.

Magnetic Control of Water Droplet Impact onto Ferrofluid Lubricated Surfaces

Controlling the impact process of a droplet impacting a liquid film has remained a wide-open challenge. The existing passive techniques lack precise on-demand control of the impact dynamics of droplets. The present study introduces a magnet-assisted approach to control water droplets' impact dynamics. We show that by incorporating a thin, magnetically active ferrofluid film, the overall droplet impact phenomena of the water droplets could be controlled. It is found that by modifying the distribution of the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) present inside the ferrofluid using a permanent magnet, the spreading and retraction behavior of the droplet could be significantly controlled. In addition to that, we also show that by altering the impact Weber number (We_i), and the magnetic Bond number (Bo_m), the outcomes of droplet impact could be precisely controlled. We reveal the role of the various forces on the consequential effects of droplet impact with the help of phase maps. Without the magnetic field, we discovered that the droplet impact on ferrofluid film results in no-splitting, jetting, and splashing regimes. On the other hand, the presence of magnetic field results in the no-splitting and jetting regime. However, beyond a critical magnetic field, the ferrofluid film gets transformed into an assembly of spikes. In such scenarios, the droplet impact only results in no-splitting and splashing regimes, while the jetting regime remains absent. The outcome of our study may find potential applications in chemical engineering, material synthesis, and three-dimensional (3D) printing where the control and optimization of the droplet impact process are desirable.

Ferrofluidic wavy Taylor vortices under alternating magnetic field

Many natural and industrial flows are subject to time-dependent boundary conditions and temporal modulations (e.g. driving frequency), which significantly modify the dynamics compared with their static counterparts. The present problem addresses ferrofluidic wavy vortex flow in Taylor-Couette geometry, with the outer cylinder at rest in a spatially homogeneous magnetic field subject to an alternating modulation. Using a modified Niklas approximation, the effect of frequency modulation on nonlinear flow dynamics and appearing resonance phenomena are investigated in the context of either period doubling or inverse period doubling. This article is part of the theme issue 'Taylor-Couette and related flows on the centennial of Taylor's seminal Philosophical Transactions paper (part 1)'.

An Effect of a Porous Structure, Slip Velocity and Rosensweig’s Viscosity on the Ferrofluid Based Squeeze Film in Porous Curved Annular Plates

An endeavor has been made to analyze porous squeeze film performance in curved annular plates considering slip velocity, Kozeny-Carman’s porous structure and Rosensweig’s viscosity in Shliomis model-based magnetic fluid lubrication. The globular sphere model of Kozeny-Carman for porous facing is adopted here. An extension of the Einstein’s viscosity for ferrofluid proposed by Rosensweig is considered here to improve the viscosity of ferrofluid for the Shliomis model, while Beavers and Joseph’s slip model is used for evaluating the slip effect. The pressure and load lifting capacity in dimensionless form is obtained by modifying the Reynolds equation incorporating the Rosensweig’s viscosity, Kozeny-Carman’s model-based porosity, slip and Shliomis model-based ferofluid lubrication. The graphical representation reveals that load carrying capacity (LCC) can be increased by increasing the curvature of upper plates, volume concentration and magnetization parameter but decrease with the slip velocity, porous structure parameter and porosity parameter. This study indicates that the load-bearing capacity remains higher as compared to the case of Einstein’s viscosity model. However, this investigation conclusively establishes that the Shliomis model goes ahead of the other two magnetic fluid flow models in overall improvement of bearing performance characteristics. Interestingly, even considerable amount of slip may not pose a serious problem when Kozeny-Carman’s model is resorted to. This investigation reveals that this type of bearing system sustains good amount of load even in the absence of flow which does not happen in the case of conventional bearing system.

Thermal and rheological properties of magnetic nanofluids: Recent advances and future directions

Technological advancement and miniaturization of electronic gadgets fueled intense research on nanofluids as potential candidates for cooling applications as a substitute to conventional heat transfer fluids. Among nanofluids, magnetic nanofluids, traditionally known as ferrofluids have attracted a lot of attention owing to their magnetic field tunable thermal conductivity and rheological properties due to the aggregation of the magnetic nanoparticles into chains or columns in the presence of the magnetic field. The field-induced aggregates act as low resistance pathways thereby improving thermal transport substantially. Recent studies show that ferrofluids with smaller size and narrow size distribution display significant enhancement in thermal conductivity in the presence of a magnetic field with negligible viscosity enhancement, which is ideal for effective thermal management of electronic devices, especially in miniature electronic devices. On the contrary, highly polydisperse ferrofluids containing large aggregates, show modest enhancement in thermal conductivity in the presence of a magnetic field and a huge enhancement in viscosity. The most recent studies show that magnetic field ramp rate has a profound effect on aggregation kinetics and thermal and rheological properties. The viscosity enhancement under an external stimulus impedes their practical use in electronics cooling, which warrants the need to attain a high thermal conductivity to viscosity ratio, under a modest magnetic field. Though there are several reviews on heat transfer in nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids, a comprehensive review on fundamental understanding of field-induced thermal and rheological properties in magnetic fluids is missing in the literature. This review provides a pedagogical description of the fundamental understanding of field-induced thermal and rheological properties in magnetic fluids, with the necessary background, key concepts, definitions, mechanisms, theoretical models, experimental protocols, and design of experiments. Many important case studies are presented along with the experimental design aspects. The review also provides a summary of important experimental studies with key findings, along with the key challenges and future research directions. The review is an ideal material for experimentalists and theoreticians practicing in the field of magnetic fluids, and also serves as an excellent reference for freshers who indent to begin research on this topic.

The Influence of Magnetic Field and Nanoparticle Concentration on the Thin Film Colloidal Deposition Process of Magnetic Nanoparticles: The Search for High-Efficiency Hematite Photoanodes

Hematite is considered a promising photoanode material for photoelectrochemical water splitting, and the literature has shown that the photoanode production process has an impact on the final efficiency of hydrogen generation. Among the methods used to process hematite photoanode, we can highlight the thin films from the colloidal deposition process of magnetic nanoparticles. This technique leads to the production of high-performance hematite photoanode. However, little is known about the influence of the magnetic field and heat treatment parameters on the final properties of hematite photoanodes. Here, we will evaluate those processing parameters in the morphology and photoelectrochemical properties of nanostructured hematite anodes. The analysis of thickness demonstrated a relationship between the magnetic field and nanoparticles concentration utilized to prepare the thin films, showing that the higher magnetic fields decrease the thickness. The J_abs results corroborate to influence the magnetic field since the use of a higher magnetic field decreases the deposited material amount, consequently decreasing the absorption of the thin films. The PEC measurements showed that at higher concentrations, the use of higher magnetic fields increases the J_PH values, and lower magnetic fields cause a decrease in J_PH when using the higher nanoparticle concentrations.

Ferrofluids and bio-ferrofluids: looking back and stepping forward

Ferrofluids investigated along for about five decades are ultrastable colloidal suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles, which manifest simultaneously fluid and magnetic properties. Their magnetically controllable and tunable feature proved to be from the beginning an extremely fertile ground for a wide range of engineering applications. More recently, biocompatible ferrofluids attracted huge interest and produced a considerable increase of the applicative potential in nanomedicine, biotechnology and environmental protection. This paper offers a brief overview of the most relevant early results and a comprehensive description of recent achievements in ferrofluid synthesis, advanced characterization, as well as the governing equations of ferrohydrodynamics, the most important interfacial phenomena and the flow properties. Finally, it provides an overview of recent advances in tunable and adaptive multifunctional materials derived from ferrofluids and a detailed presentation of the recent progress of applications in the field of sensors and actuators, ferrofluid-driven assembly and manipulation, droplet technology, including droplet generation and control, mechanical actuation, liquid computing and robotics.

On the ridge of instability in ferrofluidic Couette flow via alternating magnetic field

There is a huge number of natural and industrial flows, which are subjected to time-dependent boundary conditions. The flow of a magnetic fluid under the influence of temporal modulations is such an example. Here, we perform numerical simulations of ferrofluidic Couette flow subject to time-periodic modulation (with frequency \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\Omega _H$$\end{document}ΩH) in a spatially homogeneous magnetic field and report how such a modulation can lead to a significant Reynolds number Re enhancement. Consider a modified Niklas approximation we explain the relation between modulation amplitude, driving frequency and stabilization effect. From this, we describe the system response around the primary instability to be sensitive/critical by an alternating field. We detected that such an alternating field provides an easy and in particular accurate controllable key parameter to trigger the system to change from subcritical to supercritical and vice versa. Our findings provide a framework to study other types of magnetic flows driven by time-dependent forcing.

Numerical study of time-dependent ferrofluid flow past a cylinder in the presence of stationary magnetic field

This work investigates time-dependent ferrofluid flow past in a cylinder in the presence of a 10 kilo-ampere per meter magnetic field. The Reynolds number is about a hundred to keep the laminar flow and it is high enough to form a von Karman vortex street. This study presents the results for the velocity distributions, pressure distributions, lift coefficient, and drag coefficient under the influence of the stationary magnetic field. These results are compared with the flow in the absence of the magnetic field. The presence of the magnetic field diminishes the velocity distributions in the flow due to magnetization force and magnetic field dependent viscosity. This reduction in the velocity reduces the average velocity in the flow and therefore the magnetic field intensity enhances the coefficients of drag and lift. In the presence of the applied magnetic field, the velocity drops from 2.19 to 1.97 m/s at t = 7 s. However, the lift coefficients enhance from 3 m2s2/kg to 3.4 m2s2/kg and the drag coefficient enhances from 0.9 to 3 m2s2/kg. The numerical simulation of the problem is obtained using the finite element method in COMSOL Multiphysics.

Spontaneous Core Rotation in Ferrofluid Pipe Flow

Ferrofluid flow along a tube of radius R in a constant axial magnetic field is revisited. Our analytical solution and numerical simulations predict a transition from an initially axial flow to a steady swirling one. The swirl dynamo arises above some critical pressure drop and magnetic field strength. The new flow pattern consists of two phases of different symmetry: The flow in the core resembles Poiseuille flow in a rotating tube of the radius r_{*}<R, where each fluid element moves along a screw path, and the annular layer of the thickness R-r_{*}, where the flow remains purely axial. These phases are separated by a thin domain wall. The swirl appearance is accompanied with a sharp increase in the flow rate that might serve for the detection of the swirling instability.

Perspective of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Role in Biomedical Applications

In recent years, although many review articles have been presented about bioapplications of magnetic nanoparticles by some research groups with different expertise such as chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacology, and materials science and engineering, the majority of these reviews are insufficiently comprehensive in all related topics like magnetic aspects of process. In the current review, it is attempted to carry out the inclusive surveys on importance of magnetic nanoparticles and especially magnetite ones and their required conditions for appropriate performance in bioapplications. The main attentions of this paper are focused on magnetic features which are less considered. Accordingly, the review contains essential magnetic properties and their measurement methods, synthesis techniques, surface modification processes, and applications of magnetic nanoparticles.

Anisotropy of magnetoviscous effect in structure-forming ferrofluids

The magnetoviscous effect, change in viscosity with change in magnetic field strength, and the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect, change in viscosity with orientation of magnetic field, have been a focus of interest for four decades. A satisfactory understanding of the microscopic origin of anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect in magnetic fluids is still a matter of debate and a field of intense research. Here, we present an extensive simulation study to understand the relation between the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect and the underlying change in microstructures of ferrofluids. Our results indicate that field-induced chainlike structures respond very differently depending on their orientation relative to the direction of an externally applied shear flow, which leads to a pronounced anisotropy of viscosity. In this work, we focus on three exemplary values of dipolar interaction strengths which correspond to weak, intermediate, and strong interactions between dipolar colloidal particles. We compare our simulation results with an experimental study on cobalt-based ferrofluids as well as with an existing theoretical model called the chain model. A nonmonotonic behavior in the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect is observed with increasing dipolar interaction strength and is explained in terms of microstructure formation.

The influence of hydrodynamic diameter and core composition on the magnetoviscous effect of biocompatible ferrofluids

Suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles have received increasing interest in the biomedical field. While these ferrofluids are already used for magnetic resonance imaging, emerging research on cancer treatment focuses, for example, on employing the particles as drug carriers, or using them in magnetic hyperthermia to destroy diseased cells by heating of the particles. To enable safe and effective applications, an understanding of the flow behaviour of the ferrofluids is essential. Regarding the applications mentioned above, in which flow phenomena play an important role, viscosity under the influence of an external magnetic field is of special interest. In this respect, the magnetoviscous effect (MVE) leading to an increasing viscosity if an external magnetic field of a certain strength is applied, is well-known for singlecore ferrofluids used in the engineering context. In the biomedical context, multicore ferrofluids are preferred in order to avoid remanence magnetization and to enable a deposition of the particles by the organism without complications. This study focuses on a comparison of the MVE for three ferrofluids whose composition is identical except in relation to their hydrodynamic diameter and core composition-one of the fluids contains singlecore particles, while the other two feature multicore particles. This enables confident conclusions about the influence of those parameters on flow behaviour under the influence of a magnetic field. The strong effects found for two of the fluids should be taken into account, both in future investigations and in the potential use of such ferrofluids, as well as in manufacturing, in relation to the optimization of flow behaviour.

Elongational flow effects on the vortex growth out of Couette flow in ferrofluids

The growth behavior of stationary axisymmetric vortices and of oscillatory, nonaxisymmetric spiral vortices in Taylor-Couette flow of a ferrofluid in between differentially rotating cylinders is analyzed using a numerical linear stability analysis. The investigation is done as a function of the inner and outer cylinder's rotation rates, the axial wave number of the vortex flows, and the magnitude of an applied homogeneous axial magnetic field. In particular, the consequences of incorporating elongational flow effects in the magnetization balance equation on the marginal control parameters that separate growth from decay behavior are determined. That is done for several values of the transport coefficient that measures the strength of these effects.

Simple in situ functionalizing magnetite nanoparticles by reactive blue-19 and their application to the effective removal of Pb2+ ions from water samples

An in situ method for direct attachment of reactive blue-19 onto the surface of magnetite nanoparticles to prepare an efficient adsorbent for removal of Pb(2+) ion from water samples was proposed. The produced modified magnetite nanoparticles (MMNP) were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy. The synthesized MMNP showed high adsorption capacity to removal of Pb(2+) from wastewater samples. Lead ion adsorption process has been thoroughly studied from both kinetic and equilibrium points of view for adsorbent. The adsorption isotherms were analyzed using the five different isotherm models and correlation coefficients were determined for each isotherm. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm showed better correlation with the experimental data than other isotherms. The adsorption kinetics was tested for the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models at different experimental conditions. The kinetic data showed that the process is very fast and the adsorption process follows pseudo second order kinetic models for modified magnetite adsorbents. Thus, the new nanoparticles are favorable and useful for the removal of this metal ion, and the high adsorption capacity makes them good promising candidate materials for Pb(2+) ion removal from water samples.

Oscillatory shear response of dilute ferrofluids: predictions from rotational Brownian dynamics simulations and ferrohydrodynamics modeling

Ferrofluids are colloidal suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles that exhibit normal liquid behavior in the absence of magnetic fields but respond to imposed magnetic fields by changing their viscosity without loss of fluidity. The response of ferrofluids to constant shear and magnetic fields has received a lot of attention, but the response of ferrofluids to oscillatory shear remains largely unexplored. In the present work we used rotational Brownian dynamics to study the dynamic properties of ferrofluids with thermally blocked nanoparticles under oscillatory shear and constant magnetic fields. Comparisons between simulations and modeling using the ferrohydrodynamics equations were also made. Simulation results show that, for small rotational Péclet number, the in-phase and out-of-phase components of the complex viscosity depend on the magnitude of the magnetic field and frequency of the shear, following a Maxwell-like model with field-dependent viscosity and characteristic time equal to the field-dependent transverse magnetic relaxation time of the nanoparticles. Comparison between simulations and the numerical solution of the ferrohydrodynamic equations shows that the oscillatory rotational magnetoviscosity for an oscillating shear field obtained using the kinetic magnetization relaxation equation quantitatively agrees with simulations for a wide range of Péclet number and Langevin parameter but has quantitative deviations from the simulations at high values of the Langevin parameter. These predictions indicate an apparent elastic character to the rheology of these suspensions, even though we are considering the infinitely dilute limit in which there are negligible particle-particle interactions and, as such, chains do not form. Additionally, an asymptotic analytical solution of the ferrohydrodynamics equations, valid for Pe<<2, was used to demonstrate that the Cox-Merz rule applies for dilute ferrofluids under conditions of small shear rates. At higher shear rates the Cox-Merz rule ceases to apply.

Anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect in ferrofluids containing nanoparticles exhibiting magnetic dipole interaction

The aim of this work has been the investigation of the anisotropy of the viscosity of a ferrofluid with magnetically interacting particles which are able to form structures in an applied magnetic field. The results of the experiments show a significant deviation from the case of a fluid without strong dipolar interactions. Furthermore, we have determined the dependence of the ratio of the viscosity coefficients on shear rate providing an insight into the microstructural reasons for the observed effects.

Magnetoviscosity in dilute ferrofluids from rotational brownian dynamics simulations

Ferrofluids are suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles which respond to imposed magnetic fields by changing their viscosity without losing their fluidity. Prior work on modeling the behavior of ferrofluids has focused on using phenomenological suspension-scale continuum equations. A disadvantage of this approach is the controversy surrounding the equation describing the rate of change of the ferrofluid magnetization, the so-called magnetization relaxation equation. In this contribution the viscosity of dilute suspensions of spherical magnetic nanoparticles suspended in a Newtonian fluid and under applied shear and constant magnetic fields is studied through rotational brownian dynamics simulations. Simulation results are compared with the predictions of suspension-scale models based on three magnetization relaxation equations. Excellent agreement is observed between simulation results and the predictions of an equation due to Martsenyuk, Raikher, and Shliomis. Good qualitative agreement is observed with predictions of other equations, although these models fail to accurately predict the magnitude and shear rate dependence of the magnetic-field-dependent effective viscosity. Finally, simulation results over a wide range of conditions are collapsed into master curves using a Mason number defined based on the balance of hydrodynamic and magnetic torques.

Influence of homogeneous magnetic fields on the flow of a ferrofluid in the Taylor-Couette system

We investigate numerically the influence of a homogeneous magnetic field on a ferrofluid in the gap between two concentric, independently rotating cylinders. The full Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a combination of a finite difference method and a Galerkin method. Structure, dynamics, symmetry properties, bifurcation, and stability behavior of different vortex structures are investigated for axial and transversal magnetic fields, as well as combinations of them. We show that a transversal magnetic field modulates the Taylor vortex flow and the spiral vortex flow. Thus, a transversal magnetic field induces wavy structures: wavy Taylor vortex flow (wTVF) and wavy spiral vortex flow. In contrast to the classic wTVF, which is a secondarily bifurcating structure, these magnetically generated wavy Taylor vortices are pinned by the magnetic field, i.e., they are stationary and they appear via a primary forward bifurcation out of the basic state of circular Couette flow.

Enhancing the magnetoviscosity of ferrofluids by the addition of biological nanotubes

Applying a magnetic field to many ferrofluids leads to a significant increase in viscosity, but the phenomenon has yet to find technological exploitation because of the thinning caused by even weak shear flows. We have discovered that the addition of plant-virus-derived nanotubes to a commercial ferrofluid can give rise to a dramatic enhancement in magnetoviscosity and a suppression of shear thinning. The dependence of this effect on nanotube aspect ratio and surface charge, both of which were varied biotechnologically, is consistent with a "scaffolding" of magnetic particles into quasi-linear arrays. Direct support for this explanation is derived from transmission electron micrographs, which reveal a marked tendency for the magnetic nanoparticles to decorate the outside surface of the virus nanotubes.

Stability of the circular Couette flow of a ferrofluid in an axial magnetic field: influence of polydispersity

The gap between two concentric rotating cylinders is filled with a ferrofluid. A homogeneous magnetic field is applied parallel to the cylinder axis. The stability of the circular Couette flow is analyzed with different models that take into account the polydispersity of the ferrofluid to a varying degree. Their results are compared and their merits are discussed.

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: synthesis and surface functionalization strategies

Surface functionalized magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are a kind of novel functional materials, which have been widely used in the biotechnology and catalysis. This review focuses on the recent development and various strategies in preparation, structure, and magnetic properties of naked and surface functionalized iron oxide NPs and their corresponding application briefly. In order to implement the practical application, the particles must have combined properties of high magnetic saturation, stability, biocompatibility, and interactive functions at the surface. Moreover, the surface of iron oxide NPs could be modified by organic materials or inorganic materials, such as polymers, biomolecules, silica, metals, etc. The problems and major challenges, along with the directions for the synthesis and surface functionalization of iron oxide NPs, are considered. Finally, some future trends and prospective in these research areas are also discussed.