When a mixture of iron particles and a lubricant such as oil or graphite, is placed into the magnetic field between two poles of a magnet, the particles adhere to each other and to the metal of the magnet. Because the first experimental devices used oil as the lubricant between the particles and the magnetic surfaces, the clutches were called "magnetic fluid" devices. Graphite was better suited to withstand the high temperatures often encountered in such mechanisms; today most such machines do not use oil.
Last Updated on October 28, 2004
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