The appearance of field- and shear-dependent changes of viscosity-the magnetoviscous effect-is correlated to the formation of chains and structures of magnetic nanoparticles. Moreover, the formation of these structures leads to the appearance of viscoelastic effects or other non-Newtonian features in ferrofluids in the presence of a magnetic field. In order to describe these phenomena, different theoretical approaches have been developed which explain the mechanism of these effects with different assumptions. One point in which these models differ, and which has to be clarified, is the appearance of yield stress and its dependence on magnetic field strength. With this aim, a stress controlled rheometer has been designed to prove the existence of this very small field-dependent yield stress for ferrofluids. The results presented here show a dependence of the yield stress on the magnetic field strength as well as on the interparticle interaction and particle size distribution. Finally, yield stress experiments have been performed for different geometries of the shear cell in order to get more information about the microstructure formed by the magnetic particles.

Rheological investigations as well as theoretical studies on ferrofluids have shown strong field and shear dependent changes in viscosity, which are correlated with the formation of chain-like clusters of magnetic nanoparticles. Moreover, the formation of these clusters leads to the appearance of viscoelastic effects or other non-Newtonian features in ferrofluids in the presence of a magnetic field. Previous investigations were carried out with differently composed ferrofluids, all of them containing particles of nearly spherical shape, but differing in the size of the nanoparticles, the volume concentration and the magnetic material. In the work presented here a ferrofluid with non-spherical cobalt nanoparticles is used, to get more information about the influence of the shape of the nanoparticles on their interparticle interaction and the resulting rheological behaviour of the suspension. For the experiments an especially designed stress controlled rheometer has been used. Experiments on yield stress as well as measurements of the magnetoviscous effect have been performed for this ferrofluid with nanodisc particles for different magnetic field strengths. The results from the yield stress experiments have been compared with those achieved for a cobalt-based ferrofluid containing spherical nanoparticles.

Recent experimental as well as theoretical investigations have shown that the formation of structures of magnetic nanoparticles has significant influence on the behaviour of ferrofluids. The dependence of this structure formation on the magnetic field strength and shear stress applied to the fluid leads to strong changes of the viscosity and to the appearance of viscoelastic effects in the fluids. The actual approaches for a description of the effects vary in the basic modeling of the fluid and its behaviour. Some models base on microscopic assumptions, other model the fluid on a mesoscale and even macroscopic descriptions abstaining from microscopic assumptions have been suggested. A point in which the predictions of the models differ is the question of an appearance of a magnetic field dependent yield stress in ferrofluids. For investigations concerning the appearance and field dependence of a yield stress a special stress controlled rheometer for ferrofluids has been designed. The preliminary results presented here, show a dependence of the yield stress on magnetic field strength for different kind of ferrofluids and magnetorheological fluids.

Investigations of rheological properties of ferrofluids have shown strong changes of the viscosity in magnetic fluids with an applied magnetic field. The change of the viscosity – the magnetoviscous effect – can theoretically be described with chain and structure formation under the influence of a magnetic field. Moreover, the formation of these structures leads to the appearance of viscoelastic effects or other non-Newtonian features like yield stress in ferrofluids with an applied magnetic field. With a shear rate controlled rheometer – as it as been used in former experiments – the yield stress could not be investigated directly. Therefore the results concerning a field dependent yield stress based on an extrapolation of shear controlled measurements. For the direct investigations of the yield stress, a dedicated stress controlled rheometer is required, allowing direct investigations of the magnitude and field dependence of this effect. In this work the design of the stress controlled rheometer with its main parameters has been described in detail. The rheological investigations with differently composed fluids show that the stress controlled rheometer enables direct measurements of even small yield stresses in ferrofluids as well as large effects like they are found in magnetorheological fluids (MRF).

One of the most important properties of ferrofluids is the strong change of viscosity when subject to an applied magnetic field -the so called magnetoviscous effect. The rheological experiments as well as theoretical studies correlate this effect with the appearance of chain-like structures of magnetic particles due to the strong interparticle interaction in presence of a magnetic field. Furthermore, viscoelastic effects or other non-Newtonian features, like yield stress in ferrofluids, can theoretically be described with these structures under the influence of the magnetic field. In earlier experiments, when a shear rate controlled rheometer has been used, yield stress could not be investigated directly. A field dependent yield stress could only be estimated in ferrofluids. For direct yield stress investigations, a dedicated stress controlled rheometer is needed, so that the yield stress and its dependence on the magnetic field can be investigated directly. This paper presents investigations of yield stress and its dependence on the magnetic field strength as well as on volume concentration of large magnetic particles. In order to get more information about the structure formed by the particles, variation of gap thickness of the shear cell for the yield stress experiments has been used.