Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol.235, No.1, 46-58, 2001
On the interfacial deformation of a magnetic liquid drop under the simultaneous action of electric and magnetic fields
The influence of uniform constant magnetic and electric fields, acting simultaneously, on a magnetic fluid drop is theoretically investigated, The drop is suspended in another magnetic fluid that is immiscible with the former. Both fluids are regarded as incompressible, viscous, weakly electrically conducting, polarizable, and magnetizable. The relative orientation of electric and magnetic intensity vectors is arbitrary. The equation for the surface of the drop is obtained in the approximation of small distortion of the drop. It is shown that the surface is an ellipsoid whose semiaxes can be expressed in terms of the intensity vectors of the electric and magnetic fields. The relations determining the orientation of its principal axes are also obtained.