AMJ041011

Magnetorheological Fluid Flow in
Joseph Whiteley Microchannels

Faramarz Gordaninejad1
Professor This study presents experimental results on the flow of magnetorheological grease (MRG)
e-mail: [email protected] through microchannels. MR materials flowing through microchannels create microvalves.
The flow is controlled by injecting the MRG through microchannels with controlled
Xiaojie Wang adjustable rates. To study the effect of different channel diameters and surface rough-
Research Assistant Professor nesses, microchannels made of stainless steel, PEEK, and fused silica materials with
nominal internal diameters ranging from 1 mm to 0.075 mm 共75 ␮m兲 are tested. A
Department of Mechanical Engineering, magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the microchannel flow and is controlled by an
Composite and Intelligent Materials Laboratory, input electric current. The pressure drop of the flow is measured across the length of the
University of Nevada, microchannels. The dynamic pressure drop range and surface roughness effects are also
Reno, NV 89557 discussed. The Herschel–Bulkley model for non-Newtonian fluid flow is employed to the
experimental results with good agreement. The results show a significant pressure drop
for different magnetic field strengths. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.4000922兴
1 Introduction flow was studied in stainless steel and fused silica microchannels
This study involves an experimental approach to characterize at a range of diameters from 15 ␮m to 250 ␮m with results
the flow behavior of magnetorheological 共MR兲 suspensions in mi- indicating that there is no deviation from the conventional theory.
crochannels. Miniaturizing devices to the microscale and nano- The fluids that have been studied include water, oil, alcohol, and
scale levels is the current trend in many fields of study. The char- gas. Papautsky et al. 关4兴 suggested that a deviation from conven-
acteristics of fluid flow at the microlevel are not well understood. tional theory in these experiments may be related to measurement
The applications that could benefit from devices involving microf- errors, including the measurements of microchannel diameter 共D兲,
luid flow are not yet fully realized. There has been limited re- microchannel length 共L兲, pressure drop 共⌬P兲, viscosity 共␮兲, flow
search published on ER and MR fluid characteristics at the micro- rate 共Q兲, and surface effects.
scale level. When fully understood, this research could possibly be Experimental studies of MR fluids at microscale level introduce
extended to applications in microfluidic sensors and valves, rang- a new arduous challenge. Because MRFs are suspensions of mag-
ing from flow sensors and gas valves for gas pressure regulation, netically soft particles in liquids, such as, silicon oil or water, the
to complex microfluid handling systems for chemical analyses, flow behavior of MR fluid through microchannels is similar to a
consisting of pumps, valves, flow sensors, separation capillaries,
particle laden flow. Sharp and Adrian 关6兴 have shown that with
control of structures, and systems using small devices, reactors for
two phase particle laden flows, the ratio of the particle diameter to
modification and separation of biological cells, energy systems
such as mobile power sources, boundary layer control, coolers of the channel diameter must be about 1:3 for clogging to occur.
macrodevices, and propulsion engines. However, through the experiments that have been conducted in
One possible application of this research is in magnetorheologi- our studies with MR suspensions, this rule does not seem to hold
cal fluid 共MRF兲 microvalves. An advantage of a MRF microvalve true. Most theoretical studies of particle laden flow in microchan-
is the fact that there are no moving parts within the valve mecha- nels do not take into account the effects of particle agglomeration,
nism. A similar type of valve has already been experimented with settling, and tubing diameter transitions that can result in clog-
by researchers who have developed an electrorheological fluid ging. This challenge is compounded further if the size of the iron
共ERF兲 microvalve 关1兴. Since MRF has a higher yield stress than particles is less than 100 nm. Kormann et al. 关7兴 have shown that
ERF, a MRF microvalve could be designed that is highly efficient a nanobased MRF with 30 nm particle size exhibits an increase in
as compared with an ERF one. Klein and Guckel 关2兴 fabricated shear yield stress under an applied magnetic field that is an order
microcoils and microelectromagnets that can generate a magnetic of magnitude smaller than that of a typical MR fluid.
field as much as 1 T in small gaps with an input coil power of 5 Liu et al. 关8兴 proposed that a biocompatible and biodegradable
mW. MRF may be an effective form of cancer treatment. A simulated
The behavior of field-controllable fluids in dampers and other blood network was created using silicone tubes with diameters
devices at the macroscale have been well established 关3兴. With the ranging from 1.6 mm to 0.4 mm. MRFs were prepared using iron,
recent technological advances, especially in microscale and nano- iron oxide, and polystyrene embedded in iron oxide. The particle
scale levels, many researchers have focused on understanding the diameters ranged from 1.0 ␮m to 2.3 ␮m. Using human blood as
behavior of fluids’ flow at the microlevel. Papautsky et al. 关4兴 the carrier fluid, the above particles were added so that the particle
summarized some preliminary research, which produced a variety
volume fractions ranged from 0.5% to 2.0%. A permanent magnet
of results that deviate from the theoretical value of 64 for the
was used along a section of the tubing and the pressure drop was
product of the friction factor and the Reynolds number 共f Re兲.
measured at different flow rates and magnetic field strengths. The
The results from the experiments that have been conducted thus
results presented indicate that a pressure drop exceeding the 100
far are not consistent with each other. Experiments by Judy et al.
关5兴 and Sharp and Adrian 关6兴 have been carried out where liquid mmHg maximum, found in human arterioles, could be achieved.
The pressure drops were sufficient enough to starve a cancer tu-
mor by stopping the flow of blood to it.
1
Corresponding author. The research by Haghgooie et al. 关9兴 has shown that the col-
Contributed by the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME for publication in the umns formed by a MRF in microfluidic channels could be effec-
JOURNAL OF APPLIED MECHANICS. Manuscript received June 27, 2009; final manuscript
received December 10, 2009; published online April 14, 2010. Assoc. Editor: Nadine tive for DNA separation. The structure and dynamics of MRF with
Aubry. low particle volume fractions were analyzed to determine the ef-
Journal of Applied Mechanics Copyright © 2010 by ASME JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-1
Downloaded 04 May 2010 to 171.66.16.45. Redistribution subject to ASME license or copyright; see http://www.asme.org/terms/Terms_Use.cfm
Fig. 1 Schematic of the experimental setup
fect of being constrained between two parallel plates. It was ob- centage of carbonyl iron powders were added, the resulting com-
served that the structure and dynamics of the colloids were highly position became too viscous to successfully flow through the mi-
dependent on the width of the channels. crochannels. With the requirements of this study in mind, an
This study focuses on the behavior of magnetorheological fluids experimental grease was synthesized that is able to accept the
flow through a microchannel. A special MRF, namely, MR grease, addition of large amounts of carbonyl iron powders while still
has been developed that will flow through a microchannel without maintaining its base viscosity. A summary of the composition of
clogging. The flow is controlled by injecting the MRF through the this base grease is as follows. Using PAO as carrier medium
microchannel via a stainless steel syringe at a controlled adjust- 共83.3% weight of grease兲, modified smectite clay 共12.6% by
able rate. The pressure drop of the MRF flow is measured across weight兲, and sorbitan monooleate 共4% by weight兲 were added to
the length of a tube with internal diameters ranging from 75 ␮m the PAO and then mixed under a 500 rpm mixer for 1 h.
to 1 mm. A magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the micro- To prepare the MRG, the HQ series carbonyl iron powder 共CIP兲
channel MRG flow with a field strength ranging from 0 T to 0.56 from BASF was mixed in with the base carrier grease. This CIP
T. Results are obtained for pressure drop as a function of applied has an iron content greater than 97.5% and was selected based on
magnetic field and flow rate. its mechanical and geometric properties. The average particle di-
ameter of the HQ powder is 1.1 ␮m, with 90% of the particles
2 Experimental Study being less than 2.2 ␮m in diameter. This is roughly one-third of
One of the major challenges in the proposed study is to develop the size of the particle diameters of the powders used in commer-
a MR fluid 共with high percentage of solid loading兲 that flows cial MRF today. The particles are also relatively hard in compari-
through microchannels and produce a significantly controllable son to typical MRF carbonyl iron powders, which results in re-
pressure drop across the microchannel. Our preliminary results duced particle breakdown and increased durability of the MRG.
demonstrated that one can easily pass fluids with nanosized par- The experimental setup to drive the MRF through microchan-
ticles, such as ferrofluids, through microchannels. However, nano- nels requires some specialized fluid handling equipment that is
particles do not produce significant increase in pressure drop un- typically only found in the biomedical industry. A schematic of
der an external magnetic field. In addition, when traditional MRFs the setup is shown in Fig. 1. A Harvard Apparatus PHD-4400 high
were used, where the particle size is in the 1 – 10 ␮m range with pressure programmable syringe pump controls the flow of the
large weight percentage of solid loadings, the flow through the MRF through the microchannel. Mounted in the pump is a Har-
microchannels would be plugged before any variation in pressure vard Apparatus 8 ml or 2 ml stainless steel syringe, which dis-
drop could be measured. It is clear that the successful MRF for penses the fluid from the syringe at a single or step changing flow
this experiment has to have 共a兲 micrometer size iron particles with rate.
high solids loadings, and 共b兲 a base fluid that prevents these par- At the exit of the syringe is a Swagelok fitting that connects a 5
ticles from settling or agglomeration at the entrance to or inside cm length of 1.6 mm 共1/16 in.兲 outside diameter 共OD兲 stainless
the microchannels resulting in blockage. steel tubing to the syringe. At the end of that tubing is a stainless
The first attempts in this effort involved using commercially steel tee connected inline with port fittings. The tee is used to refill
available carbonyl iron micropowders in silicon oil or poly-alpha- the syringe when all the MRG has been dispensed through the test
olefin 共PAO兲, with surfactants added to prevent particle agglom- section of the microchannel. After the tee, a second 5 cm length of
eration. None of these samples were able to flow through a the stainless steel tubing connects to a pressure gauge tee. The two
100 ␮m fused silica test microchannel. The next step was to syn- pressure transducers used in this experiment are Cole Parmer
thesis iron oxide Fe3O4 particles similar to those found in ferrof- models 68074-18 and 68074-20 with 3000 and 5000 psi 共gauge兲
luids, but with larger particle sizes. Several of these samples suc- pressure ranges, respectively. All stainless steel tubing leading up
cessfully flowed through the test microchannel with added to the pressure gauge tee has an internal diameter of 1 mm. The
polymer surface modifiers; however, because the particle size was microchannel test sections are attached at the exit of the pressure
still relatively small and the solids loading percentage in the fluid gauge tee. Midway along the 5 cm length of microchannel, a
could not be increased above 10–20% without agglomeration oc- controllable magnetic field is applied, with an electromagnet, to
curring, the effect of the applied magnetic field on the yield stress study the change in pressure drop when the field is applied. The
was minimal. electromagnet is constructed from silicone core iron with 1100
A reverse micelle synthesis process was used to produce differ- turns in the coil. The MRF exits the microchannel at atmospheric
ent phases of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. Heat treatment pressure and is collected in a container for reuse.
was used to control the phases of the iron oxide. Magnetic particle Three different tubing materials, with different surface rough-
agglomerates with sizes averaging 200 nm were able to be pro- ness values, were used for the experiment to quantify the effect
duced by this process, and then, washed and added to hydraulic that the surface roughness had on the pressure drop across the
oil with a surfactant 关10兴. Unfortunately, the results were unsuc- microchannel test sections of the same nominal inside diameter
cessful as microchannel blockage and insignificant MR effects 共ID兲. Tubing used for the microchannel test sections varied be-
from an applied magnetic field were observed. tween nominal IDs of 1 mm 共1000 ␮m兲 and 0.075 mm 共75 ␮m兲.
A breakthrough came when a grease based carrier medium was Type 316 stainless steel and polyether ether ketone 共PEEK兲 tubing
used instead of the traditional oil. Commercially available grease was used for the larger ID microchannels while PEEK and
was found to flow through microchannels, but when a large per- PEEKsil™ was used for the smaller ID microchannels.
041011-2 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME
Table 1 SEM/AUTOCAD estimated microchannel internal
diameters
Estimated ID 共␮m兲
Nominal ID
共␮m兲 316 stainless steel PEEK PEEKsil™ 共fused silica兲
1000 1008 985 NA

750 787 780 NA
500 511 523 NA
250 250 270 NA
180 158 149 NA
150 NA 123 142
125 114 134 NA
100 NA 103 95
75 NA 80 73
Fig. 2 Raw pressure drop data recorded for 511 ␮m ID stain-

The published tolerances on the IDs of the microchannels are
less steel channel for step changing flow rate at different ap-
relatively large for the stainless steel and PEEK materials. To plied magnetic fields
obtain a more accurate estimate, the microchannel ends were mea-
sured using a SEM and a toolmakers microscope. Images taken
from the SEM were imported into AUTOCAD software where they
were analyzed using the AREA command, which provided the
area and perimeter of the microchannel opening. These values was monitored on the DAQ computer with no magnetic
were used to compute the hydraulic diameter, which is a ratio of field applied and when the pressure drop reached a stable
the area to the perimeter of noncircular channels, to provide a reading 共constant pressure drop兲 data storage was initiated
diameter value that can be used to determine Reynolds numbers or and the magnetic field was applied to the microchannel
pressure losses. The hydraulic diameter is given by while the increase in pressure drop was recorded. Then, the
field was removed and the process was repeated for a dif-
4A
dh = 共1兲 ferent magnetic field strength. An example of the data col-
p lected using this method is shown in Fig. 3. This test
where A is the cross-sectional area and p is the perimeter of the method was necessary because of the relatively long re-
channel opening. The estimated diameters of the microchannels sponse time at the small flow rates required while testing
based on this method are listed in Table 1. the microchannels.
The experiments were conducted by driving the flow of MRG
through the different microchannels while measuring the pressure
drop. DC currents were varied between 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 A
through the electromagnet to study how the pressure drop in- 3 Results and Discussion
creases with increasing magnetic fields. The strength of the mag-
netic field in the 1.6 mm 共1/16 in.兲 gap of the electromagnet was Using a shear rheometer with the plate-plate measurement
measured in air, using an F. W. Bell model 5080 Gauss teslameter. method, the shear stress can be measured as a function of the
These measurements are shown in Table 2. applied shear rate for different magnetic field strengths, as shown
For the experiments, the BASF HQ micropowder was mixed in Fig. 4. Two theoretical constitutive models are typically used
into the base grease with 80% weight solids loading. This solid for non-Newtonian fluids that can hold shear; namely, the Bing-
loading is comparable with that of the Lord MRF-132AD. The ham plastic and Herschel–Bulkley models. The general form of
these models is given in Eqs. 共2兲 and 共3兲 as follows 关3兴:
冏冏
resulting MRG was loaded into the syringe pump using a second
disposable syringe or a grease gun connected to the inline tee du
before the pressure transducer. The pressure drop measurements ␶rz = ␶y + ␩ 共2兲
dr
were recorded using one of two methods.
共1兲 For the larger diameter channels, the pump was pro-
grammed with step changing flow rates at 10–30 s dwell
intervals. As the MRG was dispensed, the pressure drop
was recorded with no magnetic field applied to the test
microchannel for baseline data, and then the test was run
again at each of applied magnetic fields listed in Table 2.
Figure 2 shows an example of the data collected using this
method.
共2兲 For the smaller diameter microchannels, the syringe pump
was set to deliver a constant flow rate. The pressure drop
Table 2 Measured magnetic field versus input electric current
dc 共A兲 Measured magnetic field 共T兲
0.25 0.19
0.5 0.32
1.0 0.45
2.0 0.56 Fig. 3 Raw pressure drop data recorded for PEEK microchan-
nels with a constant MRG flow rate of 0.125 ml/min
Journal of Applied Mechanics JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-3
Fig. 4 Shear stress versus shear rate for the MRG using a Fig. 6 Shear stress and viscosity versus shear rate for UNR
plate-plate measurement method MRG with no magnetic field applied using a cone-plate mea-
surement method
␶rz = ␶y + k 冏冏
du
dr
n
共3兲 applied magnetic field, which is equivalent to a Newtonian fluid
viscosity for MR fluid with no magnetic field applied. L is the
where ␶rz is the shear stress, ␶y is the shear yield stress, du / dr is channel length, and c is a parameter that ranges between 2 and 3,
the shear rate, and ␩ is the plastic viscosity for the Bingham depending on the ratio of ⌬PMR / ⌬Pvis 关11兴. Equation 共4兲 is valid
model. k and n are fluid index parameters for the Herschel– if the MRF behaves as a Newtonian fluid in the absence of a
Bulkley model. In both Equations du / dr is 0 when ␶rz ⱕ ␶y. The magnetic field as indicated by the Hagen–Poiseuille ⌬Pvis term on
shear yield stress as a function of the applied magnetic field can the right for the pressure drop of laminar flow through a pipe.
be obtained by extrapolating a curve of the data points in Fig. 4 From the results of the MRG under a cone-plate shear rheometer
using either of these two models to the intersection of the Y axis measurement shown in Fig. 6, it is observed that the MRG has a
where the shear rate is zero. non-Newtonian behavior in the off-state; thus, the ⌬Pvis term in
Using the Bingham model in Eq. 共2兲, the values for the shear Eq. 共4兲 would not be appropriate to model the viscous pressure
yield stress were calculated and plotted for comparison against the drop.
values for the Lord MRF-132AD fluid as a baseline. The results in By comparing the change in pressure drop with the change in
Fig. 5 indicate that the MRG has a shear yield stress approxi- flow rate one can determine if one of these models are appropriate
mately 25% less than that of the MRF-132AD for a given applied to characterize the base grease. In Fig. 7, it can be seen that the
magnetic field. This is expected since the iron particles in the data points for each microchannel diameter closely approximate a
MRG are approximately three times smaller than those in the straight line representing the plastic viscosity ␩ in Eq. 共2兲. This
MRF-132AD; therefore, a smaller magnetic attraction force be- demonstrates that the flow behavior of the base grease material
tween particles is generated when the magnetic field is applied. through microchannels still conforms to the macroscale Bingham
The total pressure drop for an MRF flowing through a channel pipe flow theory.
is often approximated by When the magnetic field is applied along the microchannel,
there is approximately 6 mm 共0.24 in.兲 of length that will be
128␩QL c␶yL influenced by the field, as shown in Fig. 8. This includes the
⌬P = ⌬Pvis + ⌬PMR = + 共4兲
␲D4 D fringing effects of the magnetic field through the gap in the mag-
net poles, which has an estimated effect out to 1/2 the gap width
where ⌬Pvis is the viscous pressure drop component, and ⌬PMR is
around the perimeter of the poles. To obtain a qualitative compari-
the pressure drop due to the shear yield component induced by the
son of the influence that the applied magnetic field has on the
applied magnetic field. D is the diameter of a circular channel, Q
microchannel pressure drop, the pressure drop due to the viscous
is the volumetric flow rate, and ␩ is the plastic viscosity with an portion of the MRG flow that is outside of the 6 mm area of
Fig. 5 Shear yield stress versus applied magnetic field for Fig. 7 Change in pressure drop versus change in flow rate in
comparing MRG to Lord MRF-132AD using the Bingham model PEEKsil microchannels for the base grease
Fig. 8 Approximate length of influence from the magnetic field compared with the total microchan-
nel length. Dimensions are in millimeters „inches….
influence is subtracted from the total pressure drop that was mea-
sured. This was accomplished by multiplying the total viscous
pressure drop measured, when no magnetic field was applied, by
dp
dz
=A
4␶ y
D
+ 冉
3n + 1 8Q
n ␲D3
冊 n
4k
D
,
Rp
R
ⱕ 0.5 共7兲
the ratio of the 6 mm active field length to the 50 mm total length where
of the microchannel. This value was then subtracted from the total 3n + 1 3 共3n + 1兲共1 − n兲
pressure drop measured at the same constant flow rate for the A= −
different magnetic field strengths applied. The remaining pressure 2n + 1 16 共2n + 1兲2共n + 1兲
drop was then divided by 6 mm to obtain an average pressure Equation 共7兲 is used to model the dp / dz data obtained by the
gradient 共dp / dz兲 versus flow rate for the length of microchannel experiments. The values for ␶y, n, and k can be obtained by from
through the applied field. the experimental data. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is
A theoretical expression has been developed using the commonly used for this type of problem to minimize the sum of
Herschel–Bulkley Eq. 共3兲, in combination with the momentum the squares between the measured data and the model as follows:
equation for laminar flow 关12兴
兺冉 dz 冊
m
2
dp dp
dp ⳵ 共r␶rz兲 F= measured − 共8兲
r =− 共5兲 dz
theory
dz ⳵r i=1
and the equation for volumetric flow rate in circular channels The genfit function in MATHCAD uses this algorithm and was
冕
utilized for the process of obtaining results by manually adjusting
R
n to find the set of values for ␶y and k to fit each microchannel
Q = 2␲ urdr + R2p␲u p 共6兲 tested. The results are shown in Figs. 10–23. In some cases, the
Rp
best fit curve resulted in a negative value for ␶y. Since this is not
where R is the radius of the channel, u is the flow velocity in the physically possible, the value for n was adjusted to provide posi-
channel, and R p and u p are the radius and velocity of the fluid plug tive values for ␶y that are reasonable, when compared with the
that develops for non-Newtonian fluid flow in circular cross sec- results from the plate-plate shear rheometer in Fig. 4. The values
tions, respectively. A representation of this geometry and nomen- for the parameters in Eq. 共7兲 are presented in Table 3.
clature is shown in Fig. 9. The results from Figs. 10–23 indicate that the flow can be mod-
By expanding Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲 through nondimensional analysis eled using the Herschel–Bulkley model in Eq. 共7兲 with good re-
and Taylor series expansions, a closed-form expression of the sults. This also indicates that the MRG flow still follows the con-
Herschel–Bulkley constitutive model for the pressure gradient in
circular cross sections is found as follows 关12兴:
Fig. 9 Flow of MR suspension through a circular cross sec- Fig. 10 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 1008 ␮m
tion †3,13‡ stainless steel microchannel
Fig. 11 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 985 ␮m Fig. 14 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 511 ␮m
PEEK microchannel stainless steel microchannel
parameter n for different applied magnetic fields, the model could

tinuum mechanics law at least down to this microscale tested. For provide a better approximation of the experimental data for both
most of the pressure drop results presented, it can be seen that the regions.
theoretical approximations using the parameters in Table 3 best The parameter n gives us a measurement of the shear thinning
match the experimental data for the off-state and the on-states in post yield for a particular fluid with a yield stress. The overall
with smaller applied magnetic fields. Slight deviation can be seen shear thinning effect can be seen in Fig. 6, where the viscosity
at the higher applied magnetic fields. Additionally, deviations are decreases as the shear rate increases. If n = 1, then the Herschel–
seen at the smaller flow rates for the tests, especially with the Bulkley model collapses to the Bingham model, in which there is
PEEK microchannels. By changing the value of the fluid index no shear thinning effect after yield. If n ⬎ 1, then the fluid exhibits
a shear thickening effect, or an increase in viscosity with increas-
stainless steel microchannel PEEK microchannel
Fig. 17 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 270 ␮m
PEEK microchannel Fig. 20 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 142 ␮m
PEEKsil™ microchannel
ing shear rate in post yield. In Table 3, it is shown that the general
tendency is that n increases as the microchannel diameter de- in Figs. 10–23, as the area between the pressure gradient results
creases. Most likely this is due to the fact that the MRG flow rate when the magnetic field is applied and at the off-state curve with
range, in the smaller diameter microchannels, does not cover a no magnetic field. The dynamic pressure drop can also be mea-
large of a span as with the larger channels. This is due to the sured by a ratio of the pressure drop due to the MR effect ⌬PMR
limitations of the experimental setup with regards to maximum to the pressure drop due to the viscous component ⌬Pvis men-
working pressure and force ratings on the components. tioned in Eq. 共4兲. From the experimental data, there are two points
The dynamic force range or dynamic pressure drop range is that can be concluded. The first is that the ratio of ⌬PMR / ⌬Pvis
often used to characterize the performance of the MR effect in a decreases with increasing flow rate. This is illustrated by compar-
device. The dynamic pressure drop range is presented graphically ing measurements on the right side of the figures to those on the
stainless steel microchannel PEEK microchannel
Fig. 23 Pressure gradient versus flow rate across 123 ␮m Fig. 24 Yield stress versus magnetic field strength for large
PEEK microchannel stainless steel and PEEK channels
left for the same set of measurement data. In the latter case, duced to represent the irregular shape of the microchannels, and a
⌬PMR / ⌬Pvis is approximately two times greater. Second, Herschel–Bulkley macroscale pipe flow theory is also employed
⌬PMR / ⌬Pvis decreases with decreasing microchannel diameter. to utilize the experimental data to obtain the model parameters.
This can be probably explained by an increasing effect of the Figures 24 and 25 present the shear yield stress from Table 3 as
viscous forces, and a decreasing MR effect at the smaller micro- a function of the applied magnet field for some of the large and
channels due to the reduction in the active fluid volume. The ratio smaller microchannels. Values for both stainless steel 共rough兲 and
of ⌬PMR / ⌬Pvis ranges from about 5, in the smaller microchannels PEEK 共smooth兲 material types are shown for comparison. In Fig.
at the highest flow rates, to 30, in the larger channels with the 24, the results indicate that the PEEK channels with their rela-
lowest flow rates tested. It is worthy to note that all these phe- tively smooth surface roughness have a smaller shear stress than
nomena of the MRG flow through microchannels in the tested that of the corresponding stainless steel channels. This is consis-
ranges can be explained well by Eqs. 共4兲 and 共7兲, which are de- tent with the previous findings 关13兴. In Fig. 25, the effect of the
rived from continuum mechanics models. surface roughness on the smaller diameter microchannels is not
It has been shown that the surface roughness has significant easy to discern. The stainless steel and PEEK materials have a
effect on the flow of MRF 关13兴. In general, by increasing the shear yield stress that is within the margin of error for the mea-
surface roughness in a channel, the measured pressure drop of surements. The PEEKsil™ microchannel exhibits a yield stress
MRF flow will increase for a given applied magnetic field. By that is roughly half the value of the yield stress of the other two
using a modified Mason number 共a ratio of the viscous forces to materials at the maximum applied magnetic field. These figures
magnetic forces兲 in combination with the friction factor, an ex- suggest that surface effects may diminish as the microchannels get
pression has been developed that can be used to express the pres- smaller. This may be related to a decreasing MR effect for the
sure drop for various surface roughness values 关13兴. smaller active fluid volume, or the increasing viscous forces act-
Ideally, this would be studied by the pressure drop for micro- ing on the fluid. Additionally, these results could be dependent on
channels with the same diameter. Because the measurements of the fluid properties of the MRG.
the microchannel diameters tested show a significant difference The fitted experimental data for the MRG flowing in micro-
between them for different materials, it is difficult to study the channels using Herschel–Bulkley model include three parameters
surface roughness effect. In this study, through careful processing 共n, k, and ␶y兲. Among the three parameters, the yield stress ␶y is
of the experimental data, the problems related to the measurement crucial in modeling the MR material flow when subjected to an
variations in the microchannels and pressure drops were over- applied magnetic field. Therefore, the fitted value of the yield
come. As stated previously, the hydraulic diameter has been intro- stresses are compared with that of the yield stress obtained using
Table 3 Herschel–Bulkley parameters for various microchannels tested
Channel ID 共␮m兲 n ␶y 共kPa兲 k 共Pa sn兲

Applied field 共T兲 0.19 0.32 0.45 0.56 0 0.19 0.32 0.45 0.56
1008 SS 0.31 3.7 8.8 14.0 17.8 191 552 955 1236 1263
985 PEEK 0.31 2.0 3.9 6.3 7.6 159 720 1313 1694 1986
787 SS 0.46 4.4 9.6 15.5 19.8 59.3 103 186 242 286
780 PEEK 0.44 3.0 6.3 11.3 13.7 65.3 176 356 425 521
511 SS 0.51 3.4 8.9 15.8 21.0 42.7 79.0 106 129 137
523 PEEK 0.52 4.8 8.3 12.6 15.9 35.9 50.4 105 150 173
250 SS 0.65 4.9 11.5 18.3 23.6 10.8 15.2 21.1 26.7 25.0
270 PEEK 0.64 4.5 9.7 14.9 18.1 14.2 12.2 28.0 36.9 49.6
158 SS 0.64 4.1 9.6 14.4 18.7 6.6 9.6 12.9 15.6 16.8
149 PEEK 0.74 4.2 8.9 15.3 18.9 4.1 5.0 7.0 7.3 9.3
142 PEEKsil™ 0.64 2.8 4.9 6.6 8.4 12.2 20.2 36.3 51.1 65.2
134 PEEK 0.67 2.5 6.4 10.2 13.1 6.6 14.7 19.2 25.7 29.4
114 SS 0.64 3.2 7.5 11.7 16.0 7.9 13.8 21.0 32.8 31.0
123 PEEK 0.69 3.5 6.4 10.0 12.5 5.8 8.9 14.5 18.7 21.7
With the MRG, flow could be initiated and then random clog-
ging would occur, during either the off or the on 共magnetic field
applied兲 states. It is believed that the clogging could be due to one
of several phenomena, including:
• contamination from dust, lint, and other foreign matter in
the MRG
• structured particle formation within the microchannel form-
ing a wall or dam to block the flow
• particle-particle interaction at the entrance or along the mi-
crochannel
• inadequate mixing of the base grease and/or the base grease
with the carbonyl iron micropowders
During measurements of the pressure drop for the base grease,

all of the clogging that occurred eventually broke free as the pres-
sure increased and steady flow resumed. While this may also be
the case with the MRG, the pressures typically approached the
Fig. 25 Yield stress versus magnetic field strength for small
stainless steel, PEEK, and PEEKsil™ microchannels
5000 psi limit of the pressure transducer and for safety concerns,
the syringe pump was stopped. Then, the microchannel was re-
moved and unplugged by forcing air through it in the opposite
direction with a disposable syringe. The random clogging can oc-
cur at any location along the microchannel. In lieu of forcing air
a shear rheometer. These yield stresses, for the MRG, are obtained through the microchannel, there were some cases in which the
conventionally by extrapolating a curve of the data points in Fig. blockage was able to be removed by bringing a permanent magnet
4 using either of Bingham or Herschel–Bulkley models to the near the entrance or exit of the microchannel. An MRG with the
intersection of the Y axis where the shear rate is zero. The com- same constituents, but with a 40% solids loading, was tested in the
parisons are only performed on the MRG flow through the stain- smallest microchannels and the random clogging still occurred.
less steel microchannels, because the surface roughness would The compressibility of the MRG is another important issue. The
affect the measured yield stress, significantly, as it is found in this typical response time for a macroscale MRF device is on the order
research. Figure 26 compares the fitted value of the yield stresses of a few milliseconds. As can be seen in Fig. 3, the response time
using Eq. 共7兲 for microchannel flow with the yield stresses ob- in these microchannels ranges between 20 s and 30 s for the flow
tained from conventional shear rheometers. It can be seen that the rate shown. The response time decreases with increasing flow rate.
fitted values of yield stresses of MRG flowing through microchan- When the syringe pump is first initiated, there is a similar lag time
nels with a diameter ranging from 114 ␮m to 1008 ␮m are all during which the flow from the exit of the microchannel gradually
lower than the fitted values obtained from classical rheological increases until the pressure reaches a steady state value. A similar
techniques. The reason for this could be the slippage of MRG flow phenomenon is seen when the magnetic field is applied. A reduc-
at the surface of the microchannels. tion in flow rate is observed as the pressure drop builds to a new
In the study of the microchannels with IDs that are 150 ␮m steady state value. When the field is removed, the pressure drop
and smaller, random clogging would occur. Although, not as se- gradually returns to the steady, off-state value, as seen in the fig-
vere, random clogging also happened for the base experimental ure. Notice that for the raw data from MRG flow through the
grease with no iron micropowders, which was used to generate 511 ␮m stainless steel channel in Fig. 2, the response time is
Figs. 6 and 7. This random clogging is not necessarily due to the much faster, on the order of 1–3 s. It is suspected that these ob-
same mechanism as a commercial MRF not flowing through the servations are due largely to air that is trapped in the system.
microchannel. In the case of the latter, the MRF would not flow at Careful precautions were taken to fill individual pieces of the
all through the microchannels or would consistently get clogged experimental setup with the MRG, as they were assembled to
just after flow initiation, depending on the microchannel diameter. prevent this from occurring. However, the act of transferring the
MRG from one container to the grease gun or to another part of
the fluid handling system can introduce air that cannot be easily
removed.
4 Summary and Conclusions

A method and an apparatus were designed and built to experi-
mentally test the pressure drop of field-controllable fluid flow
through microchannels. The setup allows for different commer-
cially available capillaries or microchannels to be attached to it.
The syringe pump can be loaded with any type of liquid based
MR suspension that is to be studied. Possible future applications
for this research include an MR microvalve, microfludic sensors,
MR micropumps, and other MEMS based MR devices.
A major challenge of this study revolved around finding a MR
suspension that would both flow through microchannels and pro-
vide a significant MR effect. The solution to this problem was
found in the base carrier medium used to prepare the MR suspen-
sion, which in this case was a PAO-based grease with organic clay
Fig. 26 Comparison of the fitted value of the yield stresses added as a thickening agent. Commercially available carbonyl
using Eq. „7… for microchannel flow with the yield stresses ob- iron micropowders with average particle sizes of 1.1 ␮m were
tained from parallel-plate shear rheometer under various mag- mixed with the base grease to create a MR suspension with 80%
netic fields solids loading.
The pressure drop of the flow for this MRG was measured 关3兴 Wang, X., and Gordaninejad, F., 2007, “Magnetorheological Materials and
Their Applications: A Review,” Intelligent Materials, M. Shahinpoor and H.-J.
across microchannels that were 5 cm in length with nominal in- Schneider, eds., Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, pp. 339–385.
ternal diameters ranging from 1 mm to 75 ␮m. A magnetic field 关4兴 Papautsky, I., Ameel, T., and Frazier, A. B., 2001, “A Review of Laminar
was applied midway along the microchannels by an electromag- Single-Phase Flow in Microchannels,” Proceedings of the ASME International
net. The applied magnetic field strength was varied between four Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, New York, NY, Nov. 11–
16, pp. 1–9.
different values from 0.19 T to 0.56 T to study the increase in 关5兴 Judy, J., Maynes, D., and Webb, B. W., 2002, “Characterization of Frictional
pressure drop due to the MR effect on the flow. The results indi- Pressure Drop for Liquid Flows Through Microchannels,” Int. J. Heat Mass
cate that there is good agreement between the experimental data Transfer, 45, pp. 3477–3489.
and the macroscale theory, using the Herschel–Bulkley model for 关6兴 Sharp, K., and Adrian, R., 2001, “Shear-Induced Arching of Particle-Laden
Flows in Microtubes,” ASME IMECE2001/MEMS-23879, Vol. 2, ASME, New
flow through a circular cross section. The microchannel materials York.
included stainless steel, PEEK, and fused silica with different val- 关7兴 Kormann, C., Laun, H. M., and Richter, H. J., 1996, “MR Fluids With Nano-
ues for surface roughness. It was observed that the effect of the Sized Magnetic Particles,” Int. J. Mod. Phys. B, 10, pp. 3167–3172.
surface roughness on the pressure drop diminishes as the micro- 关8兴 Liu, J., Flores, G. A., and Sheng, R., 2001, “In-Vitro Investigation of Blood
Embolization in Cancer Treatment Using Magnetorheological Fluids,” J.
channel diameter decreases. Magn. Magn. Mater., 225, pp. 209–217.
关9兴 Haghgooie, R., Li, C., and Doyle, P. S., 2006, “Experimental Study of Struc-
Acknowledgment ture and Dynamics in a Monolayer of Paramagnetic Colloids Confined by
Parallel Hard Walls,” Langmuir, 22, pp. 3601–3605.
The authors are thankful for the funding provided by the Na- 关10兴 Sinha, K., 2005, “Large Scale Synthesis of Crystalline Magnetic Nanopar-
tional Science Foundation. The assistance from the Polymer Sci- ticles,” MS thesis, Material Science and Engineering Department, University
ence and the Material Science and Engineering students at the of Nevada, Reno.
关11兴 Carlson, J. D., Catanzarite, D. N., and St Clair, K., 1996, “Commercial
University of Nevada, Reno for sample preparation is warmly Magneto-Rheological Fluid Devices,” Proceedings of the 5th International
appreciated. Conference on Electro-Rheological Fluids, Magneto-Rheological Suspensions,
and Associated Technology, W. Bullough, ed., World Scientific, Singapore, pp.
20–28.
References 关12兴 Wang, X., and Gordaninejad, F., 1999, “Flow Analysis of Field-Controllable,
关1兴 Yoshida, K., Kikuchi, M., Park, J.-H., and Yokota, S., 2002, “Fabrication of Electro- and Magneto-Rheological Fluids Using Herschel-Bulkley Model,” J.
Micro Electro-Rheological Valves 共ER Valves兲 by Micromachining and Ex- Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct., 10共8兲, pp. 601–608.
periments,” Sens. Actuators, A, 95, pp. 227–233. 关13兴 Gordaninejad, F., Kavlicoglu, B., and Wang, X., 2005, “Friction Factor of
关2兴 Klein, J., and Guckel, H., 1998, “High Winding Density Micro Coils for Mag- Magneto-Rheological Fluid Flow in Grooved Channels,” Int. J. Mod. Phys. B,
netic Actuators,” Microsyst. Technol., 4, pp. 172–175. 19共7–9兲, pp. 1297–1303.

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Magnetorheological Fluid Flow in

Joseph Whiteley Microchannels

041011-2 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME

1000 1008 985 NA

Fig. 2 Raw pressure drop data recorded for 511 ␮m ID stain-

Table 2 Measured magnetic field versus input electric current

dc 共A兲 Measured magnetic field 共T兲

Journal of Applied Mechanics JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-3

041011-4 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME

Journal of Applied Mechanics JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-5

parameter n for different applied magnetic fields, the model could

041011-6 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME

Journal of Applied Mechanics JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-7

Table 3 Herschel–Bulkley parameters for various microchannels tested

Channel ID 共␮m兲 n ␶y 共kPa兲 k 共Pa sn兲

041011-8 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME

During measurements of the pressure drop for the base grease,

4 Summary and Conclusions

Journal of Applied Mechanics JULY 2010, Vol. 77 / 041011-9

041011-10 / Vol. 77, JULY 2010 Transactions of the ASME

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