Magnetic Nanoparticles as a Redispersing Additive in Magnetorheological Fluid

Unwanted agglomeration of micro particles in magnetorheological fluid is an important problem for many technological applications. Furthermore, the stability of this kind of fluid is also studied as an important property in many research papers. Prior to use, a redispersion of agglomerated or aggregated (connected by solid phase) particles is often necessary. The objective of this study is to evaluate the dispersibility effect of magnetic nanoparticles as a carrier, while keeping the magnetorheological (MR) effect as high as possible. A simple device based on the estimation of the penetration force of a standard needle is presented. The needle moves across the sample vertically with a constant velocity and it is attached to a scale which registers the force displaced by the needle during the dynamic test. The effect with and without other additives was also studied. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) reveal a protective behavior of nanoparticles around the micro particles. We conclude that addition of magnetic nanoparticles improves the dispersibility characteristic compared with common dispersing additives without affecting the MR effect.