Ferrofluids (magnetic colloids) with a dispersion medium crystallizing with a decrease in temperature are investigated. Temperature dependences of the dynamic magnetic susceptibility of such ferrofluids were measured. For comparison, similar susceptibility dependences of ferrofluids with a dispersion medium that does not form a crystalline structure when solidified by cooling are also presented. It is demonstrated that crystallization of the dispersion medium leads to an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of dispersed phase particles and the formation of regions of high particle concentration. This does not happen in the case of colloids with a dispersion medium that does not form a crystalline structure. It is concluded that the formation of regions of high concentrations of dispersed phase particles during crystallization is the cause for a jump in colloid magnetic susceptibility. This conclusion refutes the previously existing opinion that the reason for the jump in the susceptibility of a ferrofluid at the temperature of transition to a solid state is the blocking of Brownian degrees of freedom of particles.
This paper presents the results of a study of the temperature dependences of the magnetic susceptibility of water-based magnetic fluids (magnetic colloids) with magnetite particles stabilized by their electrostatic interaction. The average size of dispersed particles was 8 nm, and the
volume concentration of particles in the selected samples under study was 1.4% and 1.6%. The investigations were carried out over a wide temperature range. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility, for the first time, was obtained in the region of the colloidal phase transition under
supercooling of the dispersion medium (water). Significant differences were found between the temperature dependences of the magnetic susceptibility of such magnetic fluids, where as similar dependences have been found for the susceptibility of magnetic hydrocarbon-based fluids. The observed
behavior of such dependences near the water phase transition temperature is determined by the changes in the water phase state, heat release and structuring of the colloid as a result of water crystallization. Moreover, it is suggested that a certain impact on the dependence behavior in the
region of the colloidal solidification temperature can also come from the process of blocking the Brownian degrees of freedom of a small fraction of large dispersed particles. It is concluded that the observed maxima in the investigated susceptibility temperature dependences in the lower temperature
region are due to magnetic transformations in the colloidal zones formed at the solidification front of the disperse medium with a dense packing of single-domain colloidal particles.
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