Experimental studies made on different ferrofluid samples under shear flow have shown that an increase of magnetic field strength yields an increase of the fluid’s viscosity, the so-called magnetoviscous effect, while increasing shear rate leads to a decrease of the viscosity. The change of the viscosity with magnetic field strength can be theoretically explained as an effect of chain-like structure formation and therefore can be related to the modification of the microstructure of ferrofluids. Using a specially designed rheometer, ferrofluids having different magnitude of the magnetoviscous effect were investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Correlated to the structure formation in the fluid, the scattered intensity shows a variation with magnetic field and shear rate only for fluids with a high magnetoviscous effect. The results obtained show a good agreement with the qualitative model elaborated to explain the magnetoviscous effect, indicating a strong connection between the rheological behaviour of ferrofluids and their microstructure.

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Environmentally friendly vegetable oils and their derivatives represent alternatives to mineral-based lubricants. Vegetable oils have high biodegradability and low production costs. Their poor thermo-oxidative stability and poor low temperature properties are disadvantages in their use as lubricant basestocks. In our study we used corn oil and diester mixtures, which become lubricants when additives are introduced. These mixtures of corn oil and di-2-ethylhexyl-adipate (DOA) and di-2-ethylhexyl-sebacate (DOS) offer a wide range of kinematic viscosities, pour points lower than -39°C and flash points over 218°C. The diameters of wear scars measured under four-ball testing (40 daN) are less than 0.90 mm and the copper strip corrosion test result is 1a. The differential scanning calorimetry study and thermogravimetric study under nitrogen atmosphere and in synthetic air are reported. From these studies a higher thermal stability was observed for corn oil than for diester oils. The thermo-oxidative instability occurred at temperatures higher than 350°C. The low production cost of corn oil and its mixtures with diesters makes them an attractive alternative to mineral oil lubricants.

One of the most important features of ferrofluids is the possibility to change their physical properties, especially their viscosity, by means of moderate magnetic fields. This capability makes ferrofluids very useful in the fields of engineering, medicine and fundamental research. Rheological experimental results, as well as theoretical studies, correlate the change of the viscosity of a sheared ferrofluid under the influence of a magnetic field, the so-called magnetoviscous effect, to the internal structure formation under certain external conditions. To obtain information about the microstructure of ferrofluids, experiments using the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique have been carried out. Three magnetite-based ferrofluids with different particle-particle interactions, and thus various magnitudes of the magnetoviscous effect, were investigated. Using a specially designed rheometer, SANS experiments were performed for different shear rates and magnetic field strengths in order to observe the modification of the microstructure in ferrofluids and to associate the SANS information with their macroscopical behaviour. The scattering patterns obtained show a good agreement with the qualitative model that explains the magnetoviscous effect.

Experiments performed for different ferrofluids under shear flow have shown that an increase of the magnetic field strength applied to the sample yields an increase of the fluid's viscosity, the so called magnetoviscous effect. It has been shown that the magnitude of the effect is strongly related to the modification of the microstructure of ferrofluids and can be influenced by varying both the dipole-dipole interaction between the particles and the concentration of large particles within the fluid. This result has been further used to synthesize new ferrofluids which, on one hand, are more compatible for technical applications but, on the other hand, led to difficulties for the experimenters in measuring the viscous behavior in the presence of a magnetic field. To overcome this problem, a specially designed ferrofluid-compatible capillary viscometer has been developed. Within this paper, the experimental setup as well as experimental results concerning the investigation of the magnetoviscous effect in both diluted and concentrated cobalt-based ferrofluids are presented.