Mag-nut - 4-4-2012 at 06:21
I've recently become enchanted with the beauty of ferrofluids and would like to capture this feeling with some photography.
However, every type of carrier solution seems to ruin the ff. I've tried distilled water, deionized water...both with varying ratios of isopranolol.
Each time the ff starts to exhibit a browning on its surface that leads to ugly clumps.
Is this oxidation of the magnetite? I would have thought the surfactant would protect it? Is this avoidable?
Is this some sort of rancidification of the kerosene-based carrier fluid?
Both seem to point towards oxygen being the culprit but I am so vexed on how to make this last at least a few days.
Any thought?
Hexavalent - 4-4-2012 at 06:46
With regards to the kerosene, it could perhaps be the composition of your kerosene, maybe coincidental that the particular batch you bought contained
more/less of the different distillates. Try buying another brand or something and trying again.
You could also try different carrier fluids from different brands and keep experimenting . . .perhaps something added to one of your products is
actually oxidizing the magnetite or something.
The user MrHomeScientist has a nice little video on the matter, his procedure has always seemed to work for me.
[Edited on 4-4-2012 by Hexavalent]
Mag-nut - 4-4-2012 at 07:05
The ff itself is the EFH1 by Ferrotec so that's the consistent part...I'm not creating my own. It's my attempts to put the ff into some sort of liquid
filled vessel where I run into problems. Within a relatively short amount of time, the ff develops a brown film/sheen that coalesces and clumps thus
ruining any fluidity and individual spikes.
Can kerosene oil "turn" like that? I wouldn't think there'd be any issues as they're completely immiscible, etc.
It seems like a sort of rust but how can I prevent all possible causes?