CERN Accelerating science

Preprint
Report number	E14-2004-90 ; JINR-E14-2004-90
Title	Use of Small-Angle Neutron Scattering in Testing the Stability of Ferrofluids
Author(s)	Balasoiu, M ; Vékás, L ; Avdeev, M V ; Aksenov, V L ; Khokhryakov, A A ; Bica, L D ; Hasegan, D ; Török, G ; Rosta, L
Affiliation	(Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Dubna) ; (Institute of Space Sciences, Bucharest, Romania) ; (Center for Fundamental and Advanced Technical Research, Timisoara, Romania) ; (Kyiv National University, Kyiv, Ukraine) ; (Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Budapest, Hungary)
Publication	2004
Imprint	15 Jun 2004
Number of pages	4
Published in:	Rom. Rep. Phys.
Subject category	Condensed Matter
Abstract	Stability of ferrofluids - colloidal solutions of magnetic particles covered with surfactants - is the main characteristic that determines the possibility to exploit ferrofluids in different industrial and biomedical applications. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) can be effectively used to reveal the aggregation and its change with time in ferrofluids under the action of magnetic field. Despite the fact that in most cases the detailed description of scattering is complicated, one can judge whether a ferrofluid is stable or not by simple analysis of changes in the mean scattering intensity. The advantages of SANS are that industrial samples can be tested without any additional modifications, as well as the real-time experiments with any magnetic load can be easily performed. Examples for a number of ferrofluids are given.
Submitted by	[email protected]