Thermomagnetic Convection as a Tool for Heat and Mass Transfer Control in Nanosize Materials Under Microgravity Conditions

Magnetic colloids are relatively new man-made nanomaterials whose magnetic susceptibility is several orders of magnitude larger than that of natural substances. Experiments conducted in magnetic fluids show that strengthening or weakening of thermal convection in colloids is dictated by a competition between the gravitational and magnetic mechanisms as well as by the effect of the fluid density stratification due to gravitational sedimentation of magnetic particles and their aggregates. Therefore experiments in microgravity conditions are required to eliminate gravitational sedimentation. This will enable an accurate investigation of convection in magnetic fluids and unambiguous study of the interaction of a magnetic field with a magnetopolarized medium. Such experiments are also needed to perform an accurate measurement of fluid's transport coefficients.