Magnetic aggregation: II. Laboratory and microgravity experiments

In a previous publication (Dominik and Nübold, 2002, Icarus 157, 173–186), we presented analytical expressions and theoretical considerations concerning preplanetary dust aggregation with magnetized grains in the solar nebula. The present work is dedicated to the experimental study of magnetic aggregation in a ground-based laboratory as well as under microgravity conditions on parabolic flights. We conducted aggregation experiments with dust analogues in order to study the temporal evolution and the structural outcome of grain growth processes dominated by or comprising exclusively magnetic grains. Within aggregation times ranging from a couple of seconds to a few minutes only, formation of huge chain-like and/or web-like dust aggregates was observed. After aggregate retrieval we were able to study the sizes and structures of the aggregates in great detail. We established the fractal dimension of the aggregates as Dfs=1.20±0.05 for single chains and Dfc=1.50±0.21 for inter-connected web-like structures. This is considerably lower than for non-magnetic grain growth. The dynamic exponent z for the mass increase with time according to tz was found to be z=2.7 from in-situ video images of the microgravity aggregation runs. The results are compared with the theoretical considerations presented earlier as well as with previous experimental work on the same and on related topics, respectively.