Magnetic Relaxation in a Viscoelastic Ferrocolloid

Abstract

A method has been proposed for calculating linear dynamic magnetization of a viscoelastic ferrocolloid in a constant magnetic field (displacement field). The magnetic phase of the colloid consists of Brownian ferromagnetic nanoparticles placed into a Jeffry’s fluid. Therefore, each particle, upon its rotation induced by an alternating (probe) field, dissipates energy via two friction “channels” operating in parallel. The usual (Newtonian) viscosity prevails at short times, while the retarded (Maxwellian) dissipative interaction plays the main role at long times. It has been shown that the retarded friction on the Jeffry’s medium gives rise to a slow magnetization relaxation mode, which must be most pronounced in ferrocolloids having substantial elasticity. As the displacement field is enhanced, this mode weakens and the friction relevant to the Newtonian viscosity becomes prevailing, because it causes small-angle orientational fluctuations of particle magnetic moments. The proposed method yields an exact solution of the model, and the results obtained using method prove that previous approximate calculations are substantially limited.