The adhesion force between microscale particles depends primarily on the surface structure, charge density, and their material. In the case of magnetic particles, adhesion force additionally depends on their magnetization. A miniaturized experimental setup was designed to measure and characterize the interactions between the particles in a particle sediment. The influence of the magnetic field and the protein bound on the particle surface on the adhesion force was studied. It was shown that the particle sediment expands reversibly, if the separation does not exceed the adhesion force between the particles. In the presence of bound protein, higher forces are necessary to separate the particles from each other. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.