Statistical-mechanical theory of the overall magnetic properties of mesocrystals

Abstract

The mesocrystal showing both electrorheological and magnetorheological effects is called electro-magnetorheological (EMR) solids. Prediction of the overall magnetic properties of the EMR solids is a challenging task due to the coexistence of the uniaxially anisotropic behavior and structural transition as well as long-range interaction between the suspended particles. To consider the uniaxial anisotropy effect, we present an anisotropic Kirkwood-Fröhlich equation for calculating the effective permeabilities by adopting an explicit characteristic spheroid rather than a characteristic sphere used in the derivation of the usual Kirkwood-Fröhlich equation. Further, by applying an Ewald-Kornfeld formulation we are able to investigate the effective permeability by including the structural transition and long-range interaction explicitly. Our theory can reduce to the usual Kirkwood-Fröhlich equation and Onsager equation naturally. To this end, the numerical simulation shows the validity of monitoring the structure of EMR solids by detecting their effective permeabilities.