Magnetic Liquid Stays Magnetic Indefinitely

Magnetic Liquid Stays Magnetic Indefinitely
Jul-19-19
An innovative material that is both liquid and magnetic could be a game-changer in the fields of medicine and robotics.

The magnetic liquid was created by a team from Berkeley Labs by suspending 3D-printed drops of a ferrofluid containing iron-oxide nanoparticles within a liquid solution. A magnetic coil passed over the droplets triggered the magnetism, which—unlike other magnetic ferrofluids—remained constant after the coil was removed. The material will remain magnetic regardless of its shape, and the droplets can be tuned to shift between magnetic and nonmagnetic at will.

The discovery offers a breakthrough in the field. As study lead researcher Tom Russel stated: “We hope these findings will enable people to step back and think of new applications for liquid magnets. Because until now, people in material sciences haven’t thought this was possible at all.”




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[NYTIMES.COM]
[NEWSCENTER.LBL.GOV]
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The Nitto Denko Corporation of Japan in 2017 Launched a similar product, but not an Iron Oxide, a nano particle of Neodymium alloy. First broken down by enzymes, so small brownian motion made centrifugal separation difficult. We suspect that an aqueous solution of liquified jellyfish is used to form clusters of nanoparticulates easy to centrifuge. Expensive 'Shepherd' materials like Praseodymium, are no longer needed, as these nano-particulates hold their magnetic orientation indefinitely. 3D Printed Ultra-powerful hot melt magnetic component fabrication is a viable consequence of this nano scale manufacturing process.
Posted by Alastair Carnegie on July 24, 2019
I'd like to learn more about "the droplets can be tuned to shift between magnetic and nonmagnetic at will". For the past 2 years my company has been working with a range of magnetic devices and this feature would be a game changer if it can really happen on a large scale application.
Posted by Gary Walsh on August 1, 2019

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