Anisotropic Thermal Transport in Magnetic Fluids

Abstract

The inhomogeneous morphology of magnetic fluid may appear in the presence of an external magnetic field, which shows the structure controllability of magnetic fluid and will lead to anisotropic thermal transport inside the magnetic fluid. Based on the microstructure of magnetic fluid and considering the effect of nanolayer, a model for the thermal conductivity of the magnetic fluid has been developed. The anisotropic thermal transport inside the magnetic fluid is investigated by the present method. The results show that in the presence of an external magnetic field the particles form chainlike clusters along the magnetic field direction, which leads to an increment in the thermal conductivity along the field direction and little change in the thermal conductivity perpendicular to the magnetic field direction. The thermal conductivity of magnetic fluid presents an anisotropic feature. With the increase of the magnetic field strength the chainlike clusters in the magnetic fluid becomes more obvious and the anisotropic feature of heat conduction in the fluids becomes more evident. Comparisons show that the results predicted by the present method are well coincident with the experimental data.