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A computational study was performed both of a single agglomerate and of the collision of two agglomerates in a shear flow. The agglomerates were extracted from a direct numerical simulation of a turbulent agglomeration process, and had the loosely packed fractal structure typical of agglomerate structures formed in turbulent agglomeration processes. The computation was performed using a discrete-element method for adhesive particles with four-way coupling, accounting both for forces between the fluid and the particles (and vice versa ) as well as force transmission directly between particles via particle collisions. In addition to understanding and characterizing the particle dynamics, the study focused on illuminating the fluid flow field induced by the agglomerate in the presence of a background shear and the effect of collisions on this particle-induced flow. Perhaps the most interesting result of the current work was the observation that the flow field induced by a particle agglomerate rotating in a shear flow has the form of two tilted vortex rings with opposite-sign circulation. These rings are surrounded by a sea of stretched vorticity from the background shear flow. The agglomerate rotates in the shear flow, but at a slower rate than the ambient fluid elements. In the computations with two colliding agglomerates, we observed cases resulting in agglomerate merger, bouncing and fragmentation. However, the bouncing cases were all observed to also result in an exchange of particles between the two colliding agglomerates, so that they were influenced both by elastic rebound of the agglomerate structures as well as by tearing away of particulate matter between the agglomerates. Overall, the problems of agglomerate–flow interaction and of the collision of two agglomerates in a shear flow are considerably richer in physical phenomena and more complex than can be described by the common approximation that represents each agglomerate by an ‘equivalent sphere’.
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Simulating the Self-Assembly and Hysteresis Loops of Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles with Sticking of Ligands
The agglomeration of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in a fluid is studied using nanoparticle-level Langevin dynamics simulations. The simulations have interdigitation and bridging between ligand coatings included using a computationally-cheap, phenomenological sticking parameter c. The interactions between ligand coatings are shown in this preliminary study to be important in determining the shapes of agglomerates that form. A critical size for the sticking parameter is estimated analytically and via the simulations and indicates where particle agglomerates transition from well-ordered (c is small) to disordered (c is large) shapes. Results are also presented for the hysteresis loops (magnetization versus applied field) for these particle systems in an oscillating magnetic field appropriate for hyperthermia applications. The results show that the clumping of particles has a significant effect on their macroscopic properties, with important consequences on applications. In particular, the work done by an oscillating field on the system has a nonmonotonic dependence on c.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1808412
- PAR ID:
- 10369099
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nanomaterials
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2079-4991
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2870
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11112870
