Hysteresis in Magnetism: For Physicists, Materials Scientists, and Engineers

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the physics of hysteresis in magnetism and of the mathematical tools used to describe it. Hysteresis in Magnetism discusses from a unified viewpoint the relationsof hysteresis to Maxwells equations, equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, non-linear system dynamics, micromagnetics, and domain theory. These aspects are then applied to the interpretation of magnetization reversal mechanisms: coherent rotation and switching in magnetic particles, stochastic domain wall motion and the Barkhausen effect, coercivity mechanisms and magnetic viscosity, rate-dependent hysteresis and eddy-current losses. The book emphasizes the connection between basic physical ideas and phenomenological models of interest to applications, and, in particular, to the conceptual path going from Maxwells equations and thermodynamics to micromagnetics and to Preisach hysteresis modeling.

The reader will get insight into the importance and role of hysteresis in magnetism; In particular, he will learn: which are the fingerprints of hysteresis in magnetismwhich are the situations in which hysteresis may appearhow to describe mathematically these situationshow to apply these descriptions to magnetic materialshow to interpret and predict magnetic hysteresis phenomena observed experimentally

Introduction: Magnetic Hysteresis. Types of Hysteresis. Maxwells Equations and Thermodynamics: Maxwells Equations in Magnetic Media. Magnetic Work and Thermodynamics. Magnetic Free Energy: Exchange and Anisotropy. Micromagnetics. Magnetic Domains and Domain Walls. The Magnetization Process: Coherent Rotation. Domain Wall Motion. Magnetization Curves. Coercivity Mechanisms. Eddy Currents. Preisach Systems: Collections of Bistable Units. Hysteresis in Preisach Systems. Appendixes: Systems of Units. Vector Relations. Reciprocity Theorems. Micromagnetic Parameters. Stochastic Processes. Bibliography. Index.