Role of Surface Tension in Magnetorheological Adhesion

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are colloidal suspensions of magnetizable particles that show an increment the yield stress and in the apparent viscosity in the presence of a magnetic field. It has been shown previously that MR fluids can be used for field-controlled static adhesion to non magnetic surfaces. Here we demonstrate the important role the surface tension plays in this adhesion effect (for a low viscosity carrier fluid) and that the adhesive property is not related to the field-dependent yield stress.