Experimental Studies of Applied Magnetic Field Induced Chain Formation in a Magnetorheological Fluid

The physical properties of magnetorheological (MR) fluids change upon application of a magnetic field.  One such change is the formation of chains of the magnetic particles. Although chain formation is well known, and there have been some theoretical models of chain formation [1,2,3] this effect has not been studied in detail.  Reported here is an investigation in chain formation of a magnetorheological fluid consisting of relatively large magnetic particles, from 150 μm to 850 μm, suspended in either corn syrup or vegetable oil.  The length and width of chains was measured as a function of applied magnetic field (5 Gauss to 150 Gauss) and volume fraction of magnetic particles (0.1% to 0.5%).  A discussion of the results of the chain formation will be presented.

1. R W Chantrell, A Bradbury, J Popplewell and S W Charles J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 13,  L119 (1980).

2. J. Popplewell and S.W. Charles, IEEE Trans. Magn., MAG-17, 2923 (1981).

3. Rabia Mehasni, Mouloud Feliachi, and Mohamed El Hadi Latreche, IEEE Trans. Magn. 43, 3488 (2007)