Study of structural changes of water-based magnetic-fluid by acoustic spectroscopy

Abstract

The effect of an external magnetic field on the changes in structural arrangement of magnetic nanoparticles in water based magnetic fluid was studied by acoustic spectroscopy. When a magnetic field is increased, the interaction between the magnetic field and the magnetic moments of nanoparticles leads to the orientation of magnetic nanoparticles and their following aggregation to long chains that cause the increase of acoustic attenuation. The attenuation of acoustic waves measured for jump changes of the magnetic field to 100, 200, and 300 mT at temperature 20 °C showed that the changes of acoustic attenuation increased slowly to a stabilized state that after switching off the magnetic field decreased immediately to initial value. The dependence of attenuation of acoustic waves at constant magnetic field on angle between the wave vector and direction of the applied magnetic field (attenuation anisotropy) has been measured, too. The measured anisotropy of acoustic attenuation attested structural changes of magnetic fluid in the magnetic field.