Influence of the cluster formation in a magnetic particle suspension on heat production effect in an alternating magnetic field.

In the present study, we concentrate on the results of the unexpected characteristic that the stable particle cluster formation induces a decrease in the degree of heating effect in an alternating magnetic field, by means of Brownian dynamics simulations. If chain-like clusters are stably formed in the system, whether or not a large heating effect is obtained is dependent on the magnitude relationship between the magnetic particle-particle and the magnetic particle-field interaction strengths. As the magnetic particle-particle interaction strength increases and becomes more dominant than the influence of the magnetic field, the magnetic moments of stable chain-like clusters do not have a sufficient tendency to inline in the field direction. This leads to a smaller area of the hysteresis loop, and therefore the stable cluster formation induces a significant decrease in the heating effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]