Kinetics of aggregation in non-Brownian magnetic particle dispersions in the presence of perturbations.

An experimental and theoretical study on the kinetics of the aggregation process of magnetic particles dispersed in mineral oils is presented. A static magnetic field and an oscillating magnetic perturbation are applied on the dispersion. In the low-particle concentrations, the effects on the aggregation of the frequency, the concentration of particles and the viscosity of the liquid are analyzed. It was found that the behavior of the cluster length as a function of the main control parameters can be accurately characterized by scaling relations. The physical characteristics of the aggregates are discussed in relation to measurements of viscosity as a function of time.