Experimental analysis of the stability of ferrofluids based on Iron Oxide powder

Abstract

Ferrofluids most often consist of three components, they are: solid particles, the liquid in which they are dissolved and a substance that is supposed to prevent sedimentation - called surfacant. The biggest problem with ferrofluids is their stability. Mixtures in which one of the phases is a solid phase have a natural tendency to sedimentation. As a result, physical properties change during the use of such materials. As part of the research, it was decided to check which ferrofluid composition would be most resistant to continuous evaporation and condensation processes. Three different mixtures were analyzed. As a result of the experiment it was found that the best behavior was mixture of: iron-oxide with n-heptane and fatty acid as surfacant.