ferrofluid in stepper motor

[Ldanielrosa1]

I've got another wild idea.  I"m thinking about putting a little ferrofluid into a stepper motor to see if there will be any improvement.  I'm wondering if it will do more harm than good.  I know there will be dome inertial damping, but I don't plan on running it anywhere near full speed.  Will the improved magnetic coupling do terrible things to the power requirements?  Will it permanently lock up?

BTW, I don't yet have the ferrofluid but I have supplies on order to make some and I'll be trying a few different carriers.  If anyone has information on making magnetic viewing film, please let me know.

 

[gogo2520]

Hello Ldanielrosa

Heres is what I understand about Ferrofluids.

Ferrofluids are superparamagnetic and have very low hysteresis.

The particles are usually iron, magnetite, or cobalt, and are smaller than a magnetic domain, typically 10 nanometers in diameter. The surrounding liquid is typically oil or water (or possibly wax). Surfactants are used to make the suspension more stable, so that the micelle-trapped particles repel each other due to steric hindrance effects.

Why would I want to put small particles of stuff inside of my motor?
                                        have fun gogo

 

[MP1]

There was an article discussing this in "Motion magazine" in the September/October 1992 edition. It is Volume 8, Number 5.
The article was titled, "Ferrofluid-Filled Stepper Motors" by
- K. Raj and Richard Powlowky. I do not have a copy of the article, but perhaps you can find it with this information.

Evidently, it is not too wild of an idea. 

MP

 

[Ldanielrosa1]

Apparently articles that far back aren't available for online viewing.  I will inquire further at Motion, but I may have to look elsewhere.  Thanks.