We present studies of colloidal suspensions of magnetizable particles with the aim of understanding the kinetics and underlying microstructural evolution of the liquid-solid transitions these systems exhibit in external magnetic fields. Critically, such studies are limited on Earth due to catastrophic sedimentations of the suspensions. Structural changes are investigations under steady and intermittent (pulsed) magnetic fields. Here, we focus on image processing methods used to extract structural information from video microscopy data obtained from InSPACE experiments carried out in the Microgravity Science Glovebox on the International Space Station. These experiment provide important information for the development of magnetorheological (MR) fluids in technological application, such as actuators and sensors while also providing critical insight into the fundamental physics of liquid-solid transitions.
Related URLs:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/6.2008-815