Dynamic percolation of electric conductivity and a trend towards fractal skeletal structuring in a random ensemble of magnetized nanodust

Abstract

Numerical modeling of electrodynamic aggregation is carried out for a random ensemble of magnetized nanodust taken as a many body system of strongly magnetized thin rods (i.e., one-dimensional static magnetic dipoles), which possess electric conductivity and static electric charge, screened with its own static plasma sheath. The self-assembling of quasi-linear filaments from an ensemble of randomly situated basic blocks and the electric short-circuiting between biased electrodes are shown to be supported by the alignment of blocks in an external magnetic field. Statistical analysis of short-circuiting time allows tracing the dynamic percolation of electric conductivity and shows a decrease of percolation threshold for volume fraction, as compared with the observed percolation of carbon nanotubes in liquids and polymer composites. Modeling of short-circuiting stage of evolution is continued with tracing the dynamics of pinching of electric current filaments to show the interplay of all the magnetic and electric mechanisms of filaments networking. A trend towards a fractal skeletal structuring (namely, repeat of original basic block at a larger length scale) is illustrated with the evidence for generation of a bigger magnetic dipole.