DETERMINATION OF MAGNETIC-ANISOTROPY OF MAGNETICALLY HARD MATERIALS

The determination of the first-order anisotropy field strength using the torsion pendulum method is described. Since the applied field need not necessarily be in the range of the anisotropy field, this method is particularly useful for characterizing modern permanent magnet materials which have a very high uniaxial anisotropy. The method requires oriented samples. Measurements were made on polycrystalline samples of NdFeB, SmCo, and barium ferrite. The method is described and error sources are discussed. It is pointed out that the torsion pendulum method is closely related to reversible transverse susceptibility measurements. It is shown both experimentally and theoretically, that using susceptibility measurements similar results can be obtained. The susceptibility method is, however, not applicable to conducting materials at present.