Visualization on the behavior of nanoparticles in magnetic fluids under the electric field

The dielectric breakdown characteristics of magnetic fluids can be influenced by the magnetic nanoparticles included because their properties should be affected by the applied electric field. Based on measuring the dielectric breakdown voltage of magnetic fluids, we found that it is higher than that of the pure transformer oil in the case of the specific volume concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles. It is known from a numerical simulation that the conductive nanoparticles might behavior as electron scavengers in the electrically stressed magnetic fluids and change fast electrons into slowly negative charged nanoparticles for the electrical breakdown. In this study, we focus on the motion of magnetic nanoparticles in the fluids under the electric field applied by the visualization using a microchannel and an optical microscope.