Separation of binary granular mixtures under vibration and differential magnetic levitation force.

The application of both a strong magnetic field and a magnetic field gradient to a diamagnetic or paramagnetic material can produce a vertical force that acts in concert with the force of gravity. We consider a binary granular mixture in which the two components have different magnetic susceptibilities and therefore experience different effective forces of gravity when subjected to an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Under vertical vibration, such a mixture may rapidly separate into regions almost pure in the two components. We investigate the conditions for this behavior, studying the speed and completeness of separation as a function of differential effective gravity and the frequency and amplitude of vibration. The influence of the cohesive magnetic dipole-dipole interactions on the separation process is also investigated. In our studies insight is gained through the use of a molecular dynamics simulation model.

Surface instabilities on liquid oxygen in an inhomogeneous magnetic field.

Liquid oxygen exhibits surface instabilities when subjected to a sufficiently strong magnetic field. A vertically oriented magnetic field gradient both increases the magnetic field value at which the pattern forms and shrinks the length scale of the surface patterning. We show that these effects of the field gradient may be described in terms of an "effective gravity," which in our experiments may be varied from 1 g to 360 g.

Magneto-vibratory separation of glass and bronze granular mixtures immersed in a paramagnetic liquid.

A fluid-immersed granular mixture may spontaneously separate when subjected to vertical vibration, separation occurring when the ratio of particle inertia to fluid drag is sufficiently different between the component species of the mixture. Here, we describe how fluid-driven separation is influenced by magneto-Archimedes buoyancy, the additional buoyancy force experienced by a body immersed in a paramagnetic fluid when a strong inhomogeneous magnetic field is applied. In our experiments glass and bronze mixtures immersed in paramagnetic aqueous solutions of MnCl2 have been subjected to sinusoidal vertical vibration. In the absence of a magnetic field the separation is similar to that observed when the interstitial fluid is water. However, at modest applied magnetic fields, magneto-Archimedes buoyancy may balance the inertia/fluid-drag separation mechanism, or it may dominate the separation process. We identify the vibratory and magnetic conditions for four granular configurations, each having distinctive granular convection. Abrupt transitions between these states occur at well-defined values of the magnetic and vibrational parameters. In order to gain insight into the dynamics of the separation process we use computer simulations based on solutions of the Navier-Stokes' equations. The simulations reproduce the experimental results revealing the important role of convection and gap formation in the stability of the different states.