Flexible mechanism of magnetic microbeads chains in an oscillating field

To investigate the use of magnetic microbeads for swimming at low Reynolds number, the flexible structure of microchains comprising superparamagnetic microbeads under the influence of oscillating magnetic fields is examined experimentally and theoretically. For a ductile chain, each particle has its own phase angle trajectory and phase-lag angle to the overall field. This present study thoroughly discusses the synchronicity of the local phase angle trajectory between each dyad of beads and the external field. The prominently asynchronous trajectories between the central and outer beads significantly dominate the flexible structure of the oscillating chain. In addition, the dimensionless local Mason number (Mnl) is derived as the solo controlling parameter to evaluate the structure of each dyad of beads in a flexible chain. The evolution of the local Mason number within an oscillating period implies the most unstable position locates near the center of the chain around 0.6P<t<0.8P. Moreover, a chain with a certain length in the influence of the oscillating field would behave the most significant deformation and have the most flexible structure.