Abstract
Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized by adding excess ammonium hydroxide to a solution of iron (II) and (III) chlorides. The surfactants of oleic acid and Span 80 were applied in sequence to the magnetic particles as a combined stabilizer, and poly-${\alpha}$-olefin (PAO) 30 or 60 was used as the liquid base with a low or high viscosity, respectively. The ferrofluids were prepared with the concentrations of 200, 300, 400, and 500 mg/mL, and characterized by density, dispersion, magnetization, and viscosity. The density of the fluids increased proportionally to the concentration from 0.98 to 1.27 g/mL and 1.01 to 1.30 g/mL with PAO 30 base and PAO 60 base, and the dispersion stability was 77-95 and 81-74% for the PAO-30 and PAO-60-based fluids, respectively. The observed saturation magnetization values of the PAO-30 and PAO-60-based ferrofluids were 16 to 42 mT and 17 to 41 mT with the concentration increase in the range 200-500 mg/mL, respectively, depending upon the content of magnetic particles in the fluid. The viscosity variation of the PAO-30 and PAO-60-based ferrofluids in the temperature range $20-80^{\circ}C$ was the least with the concentrations of 400 and 300 mg/mL, respectively.