Field-induced interfacial instabilities in a two-phase ferrofluid flow

Abstract

Forming a stable ferrofluid and non-magnetic interface in a microchannel is essential for biomedical applications with two miscible aqueous solutions. Here, we report the interface profile and its instability of aqueous ferrofluid and water co-flow in a microchannel under the influence of a magnetic field. The scaling law related to diffusion width and dimensionless Pe number is introduced by solving the momentum and diffusion equation and combining the experimental results. It is found that the dimensionless number of diffusion width δ/h ∝ X/Peα, when core flow concentration cf, residual magnetic flux density Br, sheath flow and core flow ratio Qw/Qf, and core flow velocity Qf are changed, α is 0.633–1.071, α ∝ Qβ, β = −0.059,0.147, 0.019 and −0.101, respectively. Altering the core flow velocity and magnetic field intensity can quickly impact the interface's stability by improving the transport efficiency by 32.9 % and counteracting the impacts of material diffusion by 51.8 %, respectively. Elevating the proportion of sheath flow to core flow and magnetic field will impede the diffusion of core flow. This will result in a drop of 11.9 % in the magnetic convection effect and a 20.8 % counteraction of material diffusion effects.