Study of motion behavior of the chains composed of micro-sized magnetic particles through a microchannel

Abstract

As the chains composed of magnetic particles (MPs) move through a channel, the breaking, recomposing, and sticking to the channel wall of the chains may occur, and it is of great importance to reveal the motion regularity of magnetic nanoparticles when they are used as carriers. In this work, experimental visualizations and numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the bending phenomena of different types of chains composed of micro-sized magnetic particles in a channel flow governed by a transversal magnetic field. The experiments focus on the motion of the MP chain, and different types of chains were observed and photographed. In addition, the pose of the chains was investigated based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) by using particles with diameter equal to the thickness of the chain. It is revealed that as the inlet velocity of carrier fluid increases, the bending degree of the chain increases and the regularities well coincide with the LBM simulation results. The shear force on the end particle was taken to evaluate the stability of the chain. In addition, the reorganization process of two short chains was investigated. It is feasible to model the chain composed of micro-sized MPs with large particles so as to predict the motion regularity of the chains efficiently.