An experimental study on Rosensweig instability of a ferrofluid droplet

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the interfacial morphologies of Rosensweig instability on an extremely thin layer of ferrofluid droplets under a constant perpendicular magnetic field. Striking patterns consisting of numerous subscale droplets that developed from Rosensweig instability are observed. For a dry plate, on which surface tension dominates, the breaking pattern of subscale droplets can be characterized by a dimensionless magnetic Bond number Bo(m). In general, a more pronounced instability, which is evident by a greater number of breaking subscale droplets N, arises with a higher Bo(m). For a magnetic Bond number that is larger than a critical value, we identify a new mode of interfacial breakup pattern, where the central droplet is torn apart with major mass loss. In addition, we found that the volume fractions of breaking subscale droplets are strongly affected by the height variation of the initial fluid surface and appear unevenly distributed with dominance of a central droplet. On the other hand, for a prewetted plate, a nearly flat fluid surface is achieved due to a smaller contact angle, which then leads to virtually evenly distributed subscale droplets. A global size for all breaking subscale droplets is observed regardless of their initial diameters. The number of breaking subscale droplets (N) and the diameter of the initial droplet (D) can be approximated by a quadratic proportionality of N similar to D(2). (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.