Experimental investigation for enhanced ferrofluid heat transfer under magnetic field effect

This paper reports an experimental work on the convective heat transfer of ferrofluid flowing through a heated copper tube in the laminar regime in the presence of magnetic field. Significant enhancement on the heat transfer of ferrofluid by applying various orders of magnetic field is observed in this experiment. Also in this experiment, the effect of magnetic nanoparticles concentrations and magnet position have been investigated. The main reason for the enhancement of heat transfer coefficient could be caused due to remarkable changes in thermophysical properties of ferrofluid under the influence of applied magnetic field.     

Confined ferrofluid droplet in crossed magnetic fields

When a ferrofluid drop is trapped in a horizontal Hele-Shaw cell and subjected to a vertical magnetic field, a fingering instability results in the droplet evolving into a complex branched structure. This fingering instability depends on the magnetic field ramp rate but also depends critically on the initial state of the droplet. Small perturbations in the initial droplet can have a large influence on the resulting final pattern. By simultaneously applying a stabilizing (horizontal) azimuthal magnetic field, we gain more control over the mode selection mechanism. We perform a linear stability analysis that shows that any single mode can be selected by appropriately adjusting the strengths of the applied fields. This offers a unique and accurate mode selection mechanism for this confined magnetic fluid system. We present the results of numerical simulations that demonstrate that this mode selection mechanism is quite robust and “overpowers” any initial perturbations on the droplet. This provides a predictable way to obtain patterns with any desired number of fingers.     

Correlation for Nusselt number in pure magnetic convection ferrofluid flow in a square cavity by a numerical investigation

Magnetic convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional square cavity induced by magnetic field gradient is investigated numerically using a semi-implicit finite volume method. The side walls of the cavity are heated with different temperatures, the top and bottom walls are isolated, and a permanent magnet is located near the bottom wall. Thermal buoyancy-induced flow is neglected due to the nongravity condition on the plane of the cavity. Conditions for the different values of non-dimensional variables in a variety of ferrofluid properties and magnetic field parameters are studied. Based on this numerical analysis, a general correlation for the overall Nusselt number on the side walls is introduced for a wide range of effective parameters. Results showed that maximum error produced by use of this correlation is about 6 percent.     

X-ray microtomography of field-induced macro-structures in a ferrofluid

X-ray microtomography is used to visualize, in-situ, the three-dimensional nature of the magnetic field induced macro-structures (>1 μm) inside a bulk (∼1 mm diameter) magnetite-particle-mineral oil ferrofluid sample. Columnar structures of ∼10 μm diameter were seen under a 0.35 kG applied magnetic field, while labyrinth type structures ∼4 μm in width were seen at 0.55 kG. The structures have height/width aspect ratios >100. The results show that the magnetite volume fraction is not constant within the structures and on average is considerably less than a random sphere packing model.     

The stability of ferrofluid flow in a vertical layer subject to lateral heating and horizontal magnetic field

We use the Langevin law of magnetization to study the linear stability of a convective flow in a flat vertical layer of ferrofluid subject to a transverse temperature gradient and a uniform magnetic field. The stability of the flow against planar, spiral and three-dimensional perturbations is examined, and the stability boundaries and characteristics of critical disturbances are determined. The competition between the monotonic mode and two types of wave modes is analyzed taking into account the properties of the fluid (magnetic susceptibility and Prandtl number) and the magnetic field strength. The domain of parameters where the oscillatory thermomagnetic wave instability exists is found.     

空气域中铁磁流体动态控制研究

根据铁磁流体磁化后会受到磁力,退磁后不存在任何磁滞的超顺磁性质,提出了铁磁流体的动态控制方法,对喷射在空气域中的铁磁流体液柱直接添加电磁场实现其动态偏转驱动。在修正后的纳维-斯托克斯(N-S) 控制方程中加入表面张力、重力及磁力,并结合磁感应方程,建立了铁磁流体动力学(FHD)模型。利用二次开发的Fluent流体仿真软件建立了铁磁流体在空气域中喷射的流体体积函数(VOF)多相流模型,仿真了在不同磁场强度下铁磁流体的液相分布及分散状况,分析了磁性对其动力学行为的影响。结果表明,随着磁场强度和喷射距离的增大,铁磁流体沿磁场方向速度及偏移量增大,其发散情况逐渐明显。     

Optical relaxation properties of magnetic fluids under externally magnetic fields

The relaxation behavior (including the rising and falling relaxation processes) of the transmitted light after the magnetic fluid thin films under longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields is investigated, respectively. The physical mechanisms of the two different relaxation processes are discussed. The experimental data of the rising and falling relaxation processes are fitted by using two exponential functions to achieve the rising and falling response times. The relationship between the response time and the strength of applied magnetic field, the concentration of magnetic fluid is studied experimentally. The modulation depth of the transmitted light is researched quantificationally and the deepest modulation depth is obtained with Sample 3 (with volume fraction of 5.62%) in our experiments.     

Magnetite ferrofluid with high specific absorption rate for application in hyperthermia

A magnetite ferrofluid coated by dextran with a high specific absorption rate (SAR) of 75 W/g in an AC field of 55 kHz and 200 Oe was prepared by the gel crystallization method with ultrasonic treatment. For comparison, uncoated magnetite particles with a mean diameter of 50 nm were also fabricated. Several possible mechanisms such as Brownian, Neel and diffusion relaxation processes on heating effects and their influence on SAR are discussed. Several factors which can increase the value of SAR were discussed, including dextran coating, ultrasonic treatment, proper particle size and the presence of defects and disorder in the particles.     

Heating of magnetic fluid systems driven by circularly polarized magnetic field

A theory is presented to calculate the heat dissipation of a magnetic suspension, a ferrofluid, driven by circularly polarized magnetic field. Theory is tested by in vitro experiments and it is shown that, regardless of the character of the relaxation process, linearly and circularly polarized magnetic field excitations, having the same root-mean-square magnitude, are equivalent in terms of heating efficiency.     

Ultrasound velocimetry of ferrofluid spin-up flow measurements using a spherical coil assembly to impose a uniform rotating magnetic field

Ferrofluid spin-up flow is studied within a sphere subjected to a uniform rotating magnetic field from two surrounding spherical coils carrying sinusoidally varying currents at right angles and 90° phase difference. Ultrasound velocimetry measurements in a full sphere of ferrofluid shows no measureable flow. There is significant bulk flow in a partially filled sphere (1-14 mm/s) of ferrofluid or a finite height cylinder of ferrofluid with no cover (1-4 mm/s) placed in the spherical coil apparatus. The flow is due to free surface effects and the non-uniform magnetic field associated with the shape demagnetizing effects. Flow is also observed in the fully filled ferrofluid sphere (1-20 mm/s) when the field is made non-uniform by adding a permanent magnet or a DC or AC excited small solenoidal coil. This confirms that a non-uniform magnetic field or a non-uniform distribution of magnetization due to a non-uniform magnetic field are causes of spin-up flow in ferrofluids with no free surface, while tangential magnetic surface stress contributes to flow in the presence of a free surface.Recent work has fitted velocity flow measurements of ferrofluid filled finite height cylinders with no free surface, subjected to uniform rotating magnetic fields, neglecting the container shape effects which cause non-uniform demagnetizing fields, and resulting in much larger non-physical effective values of spin viscosity η′∼10⁻⁸−10⁻¹² N s than those obtained from theoretical spin diffusion analysis where η′≤10⁻¹⁸ N s. COMSOL Multiphysics finite element computer simulations of spherical geometry in a uniform rotating magnetic field using non-physically large experimental fit values of spin viscosity η′∼10⁻⁸−10⁻¹² N s with a zero spin-velocity boundary condition at the outer wall predicts measureable flow, while simulations setting spin viscosity to zero (η′=0) results in negligible flow, in agreement with the ultrasound velocimetry measurements. COMSOL simulations also confirm that a non-uniform rotating magnetic field or a uniform rotating magnetic field with a non-uniform distribution of magnetization due to an external magnet or a current carrying coil can drive a measureable flow in an infinitely long ferrofluid cylinder with zero spin viscosity (η′=0).     

Simultaneous trapping and guiding of cold ions and electrons without externally applied fields

A new “external fields-free” trap capable of traping simultaneously cold paramagnetic positive and negative ions as well as electrons is proposed. Particles exhibit Zeeman repulsion from a periodically magnetized ferromagnetic film but are attracted to the same film due to the interaction with their own electrostatic image. It is shown that few millikelvin deep trapping can be realized with such an approach. Perspectives of using these traps as a quantum computer hardware and for the Wigner crystallization experiments are briefly discussed.     

Calculation of electric and magnetic induced fields in humans subjected to electric power lines

In this work, analysis of the human body exposed to high voltage electric and magnetic fields is presented. The distribution of the electric field is obtained by using Laplace's equation. This relates the surface charge induced on the body to the potential in a reciprocal Laplace problem, which is then calculated by charge simulation method coupled with genetic algorithms to determine the appropriate arrangement of simulating charges inside the human body. The magnetic field intensity along the vertical center line of the human is calculated. Exposure to external electric and magnetic fields at power frequency induces electric field, magnetic field and currents inside the human body. The presented model for simulating electric and magnetic fields are a three dimensional field problem and introduced different types of charges to simulate the different elementary geometrical shapes of human body. The particular strength of the charge simulation method in this application is its ability to allow a detailed representation of the shape and posture of the human body. The results have been assessed through comparison induced current, electric field, magnetic field and there distribution over the body surface, as estimated in other experimental and computational work.     

Exact solution for the hydrogen atom in strong magnetic fields

The exact energy values and wavelengths of the Lyman a transition of the hydrogen atom in strong magnetic fields up to 2.35 × 105 T are obtained by using the pseudospectral method. They agree well with results calculated with the other method.     

Computation of demagnetizing fields and particle distribution in magnetic fluid with inhomogeneous density

A new algorithm for calculating magnetic fields in a concentrated magnetic fluid with inhomogeneous density is proposed. Inhomogeneity of the fluid is caused by magnetophoresis. In this case, the diffusion and magnetostatic parts of the problem are tightly linked together and are solved jointly. The dynamic diffusion equation is solved by the finite volume method and, to calculate the magnetic field inside the fluid, an iterative process is performed in parallel. The solution to the problem is sought in Cartesian coordinates, and the computational domain is decomposed into rectangular elements. This technique eliminates the need to solve the related boundary-value problem for magnetic fields, accelerates computations and eliminates the error caused by the finite sizes of the outer region. Formulas describing the contribution of the rectangular element to the field intensity in the case of a plane problem are given. Magnetic and concentration fields inside the magnetic fluid filling a rectangular cavity generated under the action of the uniform external filed are calculated.     

The effect of rotating fields in magnetic resonance

The phenomenon of magnetic resonance is studied by considering the transverse oscillatory field as superposition of two oppositely rotating fields. One of the rotating fields is taken as strong and the other relatively weak.     

磁性液体复合体在外磁场中的赝双折射效应和二向色性

研究了由非磁性聚苯乙烯颗粒弥散于煤油基Fe_3O_4磁性液体中制备而成的磁性液体复合体.该复合体双折射效应和线二向色性随外磁场变化.在相同的磁场条件下,复合体的双折射效应较纯磁性液体有减弱而二向色性较后者有所增强.文中采用一简化模型对结果给出了解释.     

A novel approach to preparing magnetic protein microspheres with core-shell structure

Magnetic protein microspheres with core-shell structure were prepared through a novel approach based on the sonochemical method and the emulsion solvent evaporation method. The microspheres are composed of the oleic acid and undecylenic acid modified Fe₃O₄ cores and coated with globular bovine serum albumin (BSA). Under an optimized condition, up to 57.8 wt% of approximately 10 nm superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles could be uniformly encapsulated into the BSA microspheres with the diameter of approximately 160 nm and the high saturation magnetization of 38.5 emu/g, besides of the abundant functional groups. The possible formation mechanism of magnetic microspheres was discussed in detail.     

Quark pair creation in color electric fields and effects of magnetic fields

The time evolution of a system where a uniform and classical SU(3) color electric field and quantum fields of quarks interact with each other is studied focusing on non-perturbative pair creation and its back reaction. We characterize a color direction of an electric field in a gauge invariant way, and investigate its dependence. Momentum distributions of created quarks show plasma oscillation as well as quantum effects such as the Pauli blocking and interference. Pressure of the system is also calculated, and we show that pair creation moderates degree of anisotropy of pressure. Furthermore, enhancement of pair creation and induction of chiral charge under a color magnetic field which is parallel to an electric field are discussed.     

Frequency-domain birefringence measurement of biological binding to magnetic nanoparticles

Optical detection of the frequency-dependent magnetic relaxation signal is used to monitor the binding of biological molecules to magnetic nanoparticles in a ferrofluid. Biological binding reactions cause changes in the magnetic relaxation signal due to an increase in the average hydrodynamic diameter of the nanoparticles. To allow the relaxation signal to be detected in dilute ferrofluids, measurements are made using a balanced photodetector, resulting in a 25 μV/√Hz noise floor, within 50% of the theoretical limit imposed by photon shot noise. Measurements of a ferrofluid composed of magnetite nanoparticles coated with anti-IgG antibodies show that the average hydrodynamic diameter increases from 115.2 to 125.4 nm after reaction with IgG.     

Bénard-Marangoni ferroconvection with magnetic field dependent viscosity

The effect of magnetic field dependent viscosity on the onset of Bénard-Marangoni ferroconvection in a horizontal layer of ferrofluid is investigated theoretically. The lower boundary is taken to be rigid with fixed temperature, while the upper free boundary at which temperature-dependent surface tension effect is considered is non-deformable and subject to a general thermal condition. The Rayleigh-Ritz method with Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind as trial functions is employed to extract the critical stability parameters numerically. The results show that the onset of ferroconvection is delayed with an increase in the magnetic field dependent viscosity parameter (Λ) and Biot number (Bi) but opposite is the case with an increase in the value of magnetic Rayleigh number (R_m) and nonlinearity of magnetization (M₃). Further, increase in R_m, M₃, and decrease in Λ and Bi is to decrease the size of the convection cells.