Instability of ferrofluid interfacial surface in simultaneously acting magnetic and electric fields

Abstract

The simultaneous effect of magnetic and electric fields on ferrofluids is of fundamental interest, and may have a number of promising nontrivial applications. We experimentally investigate the interfacial surface instability in a two-layer system of liquids in which the lower layer is presented by a conducting ferrofluid and the upper layer by a dielectric nonmagnetic liquid. The interfacial instability is initiated as a result of the joint action of magnetic and electric fields perpendicular to the boundary. The values of the critical magnetic field strength and electric voltage are measured, and the relationship between these values is demonstrated.