Make your own ferrofluid in 5 minutes

Using magnetic ink and any oil lying around your house, make a substance that's liquid when it's sitting around, but turn solid in the presence of a magnetic field

Step 1: Intro

This instructable will show you how to make your own ferrofluid. A ferrofluid is a fluid with magnetic particles in it, and if the fluid is exposed to a magnetic field, all the magnetic particles will align with the field lines, and making the fluid much more dense. There's a lot of cool things you can do with this fluid. Enjoy!!!

Comments

[steampsycho]

Any thoughts on which might be the best out of this list? And how much?

[steampsycho]

(This is a reply to willvb13 - the comment system wasn't letting me reply)

[psinha2]

here is blog on it

http://blackpegasus.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-Liquid-Magnet

[itsthatsguy]

Ok some people have been getting no affect and most toner particles are magnetic, the reason for no or little affect is your magnet. The magnet your using should have a pull force of about 100+lbs. If you have a local hardware store you can probably buy a magnet there for 5-20$ and if you don't goto This Webiste and purchase a block magnet with a high pull force and make sure it says diametrically magnitized (that means it has a north and a south side). try to keep it under 200lbs unless you have TOTAL experience handling Neomodyuim magnets. BTW adding some household ammonia will help the particles stablilze so they don't clump add about 2 drops for every once of ferrofluid and make sure you don't eat the ammonia or mix it with another chemical unless its has been approved and is safe to handle.

Cheers.

[eygen]

I have a magnet with a pull force of 250 lbs....that should do it, right? :P I am so making this! I love magnets and stuff like this.

[jackpot305]

well you have 2 use a earth magnet

[macgyverfan]

are there any practical applications for ferrofluid?

[Iz D.]

ferrofluid was invented by NASA to move fuel in null gravity.

[a480641]

this is very cool but it appears your batch doesnt have quite enough oil to be smooth.

[GASSYPOOTS]

brotip: use magnets for hardness :D

[strmrnnr]

Wondering if you have ever heard of this material from the tape being mixed with a paste an used as a heatsink compound. Being that it is obviously metal base it should conduct heat well.

[busterbuster18724]

could you get the ink out of any pen?

[magnadox]

Ferro fluid has the capability of a fluid controllable by magnetism, nasa uses it in space to control fuel

[stringstretcher]

http://berglondon.com/blog/2009/10/12/the-ghost-in-the-field/

[ilpug]

my cousin and his friends worked on a ferrofluid display POng once. it didnt work right apparently.

[bits1bytes2]

A typical ferrofluid is about 5% magnetic solids, 10% surfactant, and 85% carrier, by volume.
- magnetic solids: come from the MICR
- surfacant : either itric acid or oleic acid (which I prefer)
- carrier: veggie oil or kerosene (which is better)

So.... for a 100ml total volume, 5ml of MICR, 10ml acid, and 85ml of kerosene.

An MSDS for this can be found at www.teachersource.com/Images/UserDir/FF310MSDS.pdf

[s4mm77]

Wouldn't you need more MICR since the ingredient isn't pure?

[soroka69]

No, no more than 10% of the total volume

[s4mm77]

I must make this to feel the epic texture... Where the hell can i get MICR O_O

[soroka69]

Look on eBay for MICR or magnetic ink Re-Fill

[ski539]

honestly theres an easier way to do it, one is with acetone and tapes. both easier to get. and another way i know less about but it uses kerosene and makes it really high quality. but you dont wanna be touching it because the iron is bad for you.

[s4mm77]

I've found some on ebay... RICOH FT-4215 TYPE 410 DEVELOPER will do?

[CursedSeal7]

nope, need sem different stuff, not RICOH

[raja681]

can someone tellme the exact thing i need for the magnetic property

[flashsumner]

it's too bad the fluid becomes jagged when magnetized. I've been wondering if it would be possible to make a relief globe of the earth and 'cover' it with some sort of fluid that could 'stick' (perhaps magnetically) to the globe, filling the depressions like the oceans on the earth. Mercury would work but is obviously impractical for safety reasons. This ferrofluid would be an option except it doesn't really act fluid-like when magnetized.

[Protocol512]

well it's not really supposed to become solid at all,.. it's basically supposed to remain a liquid, reactive to magnetic field. When made right, the particles, and the fluid don't separate. And when they do, it's because of a constant force. A solid state magnet only pulls one direction, constantly. When you use an electromagnet, and ferrite, the change in direction occurs so quickly, that the solids never have time to settle out of the fluid. When this occurs, you can idealy suspend the solid, and liquid, in a perm. state, without separation.

[ocbarterguy]

I was just wondering, I just bought some "Ferrofluid" on ebay, got it home, and noticed that it coated my beaker in a film as it passed over it. After doing some research, I found that you can put it in a median like alcohol, or ethenol to prevent it from sticking to the glass: But when I tried with a 50/50 alcohol solution, the mixture became foggy at the top, and there are what look like random sized filings, almost like the guy sold me really cheap stuff. I've seen several videos in which the fluid literally behaves like an individual entity, not a blob of metal stuff. Basically my question is: How do I get this stuff to behave like it is supposed to in a small glass beaker without it looking cheap and foggy? Thanks so much!! -Jay

[von rad]

Ferro fluid is nasty.  In spills, accidental contact, multiple field interactions - experimentation means discovery so no predictable results = "ferro fluid is nasty".  Recently I have been using glass, aluminum and wood to identify magnetic reactivity and (visually) field definition.  In air it takes a long time to "grow" the field.  The advantage over the ferro-fluid is that you can see the "grain" of the field, you can measure angular "reactions" and determine how vectors were resolved.

VR,

[prank]

would you want the fluid to move around afterwards? If not, you could use a clear epoxy. What do they use for fake water in the museum displays of swamps and rivers?

[theblasto]

Epoxy is a fantastic idea! If you mixed the MIRC with a light-weight liquid epoxy (working quick)... applied a magnet... and let it harden... you'd have a nifty little piece of permanent art! :)

[flying texan]

what if you used grease in stead of oil, then heat it to drain excess, then the sticky grease would keep it from splitting to make it nice and smooth. another thought would be to mix the MIRC with gellotin, I wonder what that would do? how would you grind ferric oxide as fine as graphite lube.

[von rad]

A rock tumbler using spherical metal balls or ball mill break it down to a fine grain.

VR

[nickangel1]

You said "some oil" and "a bit of ink". Can you please tell a good ratio between how much oil and how much developer?? Thanx ANYWAY AWESOME INSTRUCTABLE.. :) you're great

[twenglish1]

will this work with all toner?? cause i have an old cartridge that still has some toner in it and i was wondering if i could use that

[zim_256]

It doesn't work at all, using toner or developer (as i did), you create a ferromagnetic "suspension", not a fluid. It doesn't make the effect seen for example in snOil, when you put a magnet close to the suspension, it just magnetizes the developer particles, not the entire fluid. That effect is not visible because the particles are covered with dark oil (oil mixed with some residual toner from the developer). And it smells life french fries! (i reused old cooking oil).

[chefbrian]

Five syllables, Mimetic Polyalloy

[chriskarr]

Isn't 'Mimetic Polyalloy' six syllables? If I'm wrong, I'll be surprised, but if I'm right, I'll assume that somebody wasn't taking much time to think about syllable count.

[Virus1105]

I count 7

[Ansoiaron]

Me too...

[chriskarr]

Yep, you're right. Mim-et-ic- -pol-y-all-oy You were right. Seven syllables.