An Experimental Validation Study on Ferrofluid Evaporation

Abstract The current research on the evaporation of ferrofluids mainly focuses on the characterization of ultra-low vapor pressure ferrofluids in vacuum and the theoretical analysis of the evaporation process. Few studies have focused on the experimental validation of the proposed evaporation rate equations and on the comparison of the differences in ferrofluid evaporation. In this study, based on the Bolotov’s model, an evaporation rate equation is deduced from the experimental model. The experimental study included a comparison of the evaporation, magnetic particle volume fraction, temperature, height of the fluid surface from the outlet, and magnetic field of a kerosene-based ferrofluid and its base carrier liquid. The prepared sample was evaporated in a test tube, and the evaporation rate was calculated by measuring the weight loss of the sample. The experimental results show that the evaporation rate of the base carrier liquid is higher than that of the ferrofluid. The smaller the volume fraction of the magnetic particles, the greater the evaporation rate. The magnetic particles play a key role in preventing evaporation of the base liquid. The higher the temperature, the smaller the deviation of the evaporation rate from the predicted value. The evaporation rates obtained by the two control groups at the height of the fluid surface from the outlet were lower than the predict value. The magnetic field had a certain promotional effect on the evaporation of the ferrofluid. The experimental results were consistent with the results obtained using Bolotov’s model. This research validates Bolotov’s model and shows that the model is somewhat biased but still responds well to different variables.