Particle Tracing Simulations of Dielectrophoretic and Magnetophoretic Flows in Magnetic Nanofluids

Abstract

Alternating current breakdown voltage of magnetic nanofluids with different volume concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles was investigated and compared to that of mineral oil. The magnetic nanofluids exhibited better or worse breakdown strength compared to base fluids according to the amount of magnetic nanoparticles. However, the possible mechanisms behind the change in breakdown strength due to the amount of magnetic nanoparticles are not clearly understood. In this study, a numerical simulation of magnetic nanoparticles in an insulating fluid was developed to model particle tracing for dielectrophoretic and magnetophoretic flows in microfluidic system according to different volume concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles. Possible mechanism involved in the change of breakdown strength due to the behavior of magnetic nanoparticles was also proposed in this study.