Magnetorheological fluid based on submicrometric silica-coated magnetite particles under an oscillatory magnetic field

An experimental study conducted on the rheological properties of a magnetorheological fluid based on submicrometric silica-coated magnetite particles dispersed in silicone oil is presented. We investigated the rheological behaviour when the system is simultaneously exposed to a static field and a sinusoidal field used as a perturbation. The results show that the perturbation modifies the rheological behaviour of the system and can be used to control its physical properties; however, the changes that are induced are smaller than expected from previous results for the aggregation of particles under magnetic perturbations. We discussed this difference in terms of the ratio between the magnetic energy and the thermal energy. We observed that a threshold magnetic field exists; below it, the yield stress is practically zero, whereas above it, the yield stress grows quickly. We discuss this result in terms of a model based on chain length distribution.