Experimental study of a static system based on a magneto-thermal coupling in ferrofluids

•A novel experimental setup is proposed.•The static pressure due to magneto-thermal effect in ferrofluids is measured.•Steady and transient states were studied.•The pressure value may be limited due to a magneto-convective motion.•The setup suggests the creation of a movement within the magnetized ferrofluid.

Liquid cooling of electronic devices requires generally a mechanical pump which reduces the performance of the system and its reliability. It has already been shown that ferrofluids with low Curie temperature are able to create a liquid flow without any mechanical part. In fact a pressure gradient can be obtained when subjecting this ferrofluids to both a temperature gradient and a magnetic field. In this paper a novel experimental setup is proposed. It is thermally and magnetically instrumented to achieve a precise analysis of the local behavior of the ferrofluids. A MnZn based ferrofluid was investigated on steady and transient states. The results confirm that a hydrostatic pressure can be successfully created. The behavior of the ferrofluid is analyzed considering a homogeneous applied magnetic field or not. A pressure drop is also highlighted and discussed in terms of temperature gradient evolution and magneto-convection in the ferrofluid.