Magnetoelastic behavior of a ferrogel in a homogeneous magnetic eld

S. Monz1 , A. Tsch ope1 , R. Birringer 1

1 Universit at

des Saarlandes, FR. 7.3 Technische Physik, Postfach 15 11 50, 66041 Saarbr ucken

Introduction A gel ist a cross-linked polymer network which is swelled by a uid. If a gel is lled with a ferrouid it will become sensitive to an external magnetic eld and it is called a ferrogel [1]. It has been demonstrated that such ferrogels exhibit a significant change in shape under the inuence of an inhomogeneous magnetic eld [1, 2]. However, only few studies exist concerning the inuence of a homogeneous eld on a ferrogel. It has been shown, for instance, that the compressive modulus changes in a homogeneous eld [3]. In a homogeneous magnetic eld, a magnetic torque induces the alignment of the magnetic moments parallel to the applied eld. The magnetic anisotropy energy KV , where K is the anisotropy constant of the material and V the particle volume, may counteract this alignment, depending on the particle orientation and the magnitude of KV . If thermal energy kB T is larger than the anisotropy energy, the magnetization can uctuate independent of the particle lattice (N eel relaxation), and the relaxation time constant is given as [4]: KV N = 0 exp kB T , (1)

depends on the viscosity of the particle environment. A prominent related phenomenon is the change in shear viscosity of a ferrouid in a homogeneous external eld [5]. The objective of the present study is to investigate the anchorage of the magnetic particles in the ferrogel polymer network and the resulting mechanical torsion of an macroscopic anisotropic ferrogel under the inuence of a homogeneous magnetic eld. Experimental The ferrogel in the present study is based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA, [PVA] = 1, 6 mol/l) and crosslinked by glutardialdehyde (GDA, [PVA] / [GDA] = 40 4000) [1]. Ferrogels with macroscopic magnetic anisotropy were prepared by applying a homogeneous eld of 10 kOe during gelation. The particle size distribution of this ferrouid was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering. Both the ferrouid and ferrogels were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry. Results and Discussion The particle size distribution, as determined by TEM, could be well described by a lognormal distribution with a median D0 = 7 nm and = 1.5. Similar values were obtained from the analysis of small angle Xray scattering data. The magnetization curve of the ferrouid shows superparamagnetic behaviour, as expected (Fig.1, inset). In the uid matrix, all magnetic particles will exhibit either N eel or

with 0 109 s. However, if KV >> kB T , the rotation of the magnetization is blocked. In the case of a ferrouid, there is still a possible mechanism to align the magnetic moments by rotation of the entire particle (Brown relaxation). The corresponding time constant 3V (2) B = kB T

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M/M

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perpendicular
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parallel
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Field [kOe]

500 Oe. A rotation by 90 equals the maximum possible value because all the magnetic particles are aligned parallel to the eld. In addition, the analysis of the torque balance revealed that for particles with sufciently high magnetic anisotropy energy, the magnetic susceptibility is proportional to the shear modulus of the gel so that the magnetic particles could be used as nanoscopic probes for the viscoelastic properties of the matrix. Acknowledgments

Figure 1: Magnetization curves of a ferrogel mesured at room temperature, parallel (triangles) and perpendicular (squares) to the introduced macroscopic anisotropy axis. For comparisation the used ferrouid exhibits superparamagnetic behavior (see inset). Brown relaxation, depending on their size and the magnitude of their anisotropy energy KV . In contrast, a signicant hysteresis was found for the ferrogel, which suggests that the Brownian rotation of the larger particles (KV >> kB T ) is prevented by the surrounding gel matrix. Furthermore, VSM measurements revealed, that is possible to introduce a magnetic anisotropy into the ferrogel. The different shape of the hysteresis loops in Fig.1 are due to the alignment of the particles along their easy axis during gel formation [6]. As a result, the magnetization curves are different when measured parallel to the anisotropy axis (triangles) or perpendicular (squares). This magnetic anisotropy can be used to transfer a net magnetic torque on the ensemble of magnetic particles leading to a macroscopic torsion of the ferrogel. A ferrogel cylinder of about 15 mm length and 4 mm diameter was prepared with an macroscopic anisotropy axis perpendicular to the cylinder axis. A torsion of 90 was achieved by applying a homogeneous eld of about

M/M

SFB 277: Grenz achenbestimmte Materialien for the nancial support. Dr. R. N. Viswanath, INT Karlsruhe F. D obrich, A. Michels References nyi, L. Barsi, A. B uki, Polymer [1] M. Zr Gels and Networks 5, 415 (1997) [2] M. Zr nyi, Colloid Polym. Sci. 278, 98 (2000) [3] T. Mitsumata et al., J. Appl. Phys. 85, 8451 (1999) [4] R. E. Rosensweig, Ferrohydrodynamics, Dover (1997) [5] S. Odenbach, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 15, 14971508 (2003) [6] D. Collin et al., Macromol. Rapid Commun. 24, 737741 (2003)