Electronic edition ISSN 1574-0579

Transformations of the concentration domain structures of liquid magnetics in plane layers 1. The energetic approach

A. Cebers

Institute of Physics, Latvian University, Salaspils-1, LV-2169, Latvia

Abstract
An algorithm is described for the energy calculation of the equilibrium structures of the magnetic colloid - hexagonal lattice of cylindrical columns and of the periodic stripe systems magnetized transversely to the boundaries of the plane layer. Results of numerical calculations are given. Dependence of the energy of the equilibrium structures on the volume concentration of the concentrated phase are found. They show that the stripe pattern is energetically advantageous only when the concentrated phase volume fractions are sufficiently high. The agreement of this conclusion with the results of the experiments and of a numerical simulation of the phase separation of the magnetic colloids, which are described in the second part of the paper, is emphasized. Figs 2, Refs 16.