Improving heat generation of magnetic nanoparticles by pre-orientation of particles in a static three tesla magnetic field

Inductive heating of electrically insulating materials like fiberglass reinforced thermoplastics (FRTP) without susceptors is not possible. However, due to their low thermal conductivity a volumetric heat generation method is advisable to reach short heating times to melt this material for reshaping. This can be done with magnetic nanoparticles as susceptors within the thermoplastic of the FRTP using Néel relaxation. During the heating process the particle's magnetic moment rotates with the field while the particle itself is fixed within the thermoplastic. Therefore the heat dissipation of each particle depends on its orientation within the field. To achieve the maximum heat generation of the particles we pre-oriented the particles within a plastic at the best angle to the applied AC field for induction. To do this, five mass percent nanoparticles were dispersed in an epoxy resin, which was then hardened at room temperature in a static three Tesla magnetic field. After its solidification the heating behavior of the sample was compared to a reference sample, which was hardened without a field. The oriented particles showed an increased heating rate when oriented parallel to the applied AC field. The absorption rate was 3.3 times as high as the undirected reference sample. When the alternating electromagnetic field was perpendicular to the oriented particles, the specific absorption rate was similar to that of the reference sample. We compare this result with theory and with calculations from literature, and conduct a numerical simulation.