Magnetization and microstructures of dipolar soft sphere ferrofluid under shear flow: A non-equilibrium molecular dynamics study

Material properties of a ferrofluid are strongly influenced by the microstructures of the ferrofluid and aggregation behavior of the ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are employed in this work to study dipolar soft sphere ferrofluid systems containing small and large particles under the influence of both magnetic field and shear flow. The computational model considers both long-range dipolar interaction and short-range repulsive interaction of the ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effects of solvent friction coefficients, particle size, magnetic field strength and direction, and shear rate. The relation between the dynamic macroscopic magnetization of the ferrofluid and its associated microstructural behavior is investigated.