A high-performance hysteresis loop tracer

Abstract

A high-performance and inexpensive hysteresis loop tracer has been developed to measure quasistatic (0.02 Hz or less) hysteresis loops of soft ferromagnetic materials. It was applied very successfully to measure straight pieces of amorphous and nanocrystalline ribbons and amorphous wires. Especially high-magnetic-field resolution is required when nanocrystalline ferromagnets and amorphous wires are measured. Nanocrystalline materials exhibit very low coercivity (Hc=0.1–0.5 A/m). The error of Hc measurement using this tracer does not exceed 0.05 A/m even though the amorphous wires have very small cross section (0.008 mm2). The examples of hysteresis loops measured at low (50 A/m) and high magnetic field (14 kA/m) are presented. The apparatus consists of an IBM-compatible computer equipped with 12 bit analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, bipolar power supply, fluxmeter, solenoid and a pickup coil connected to a compensation coil. This equipment is free of 50 Hz noise, a significant problem in the performance of low-frequency loop tracers. The software was developed to enable measurement and immediate display of the M-H hysteresis loop. Previous loops also can be displayed and printed. Calibration of the setup is also possible. In the case of straight samples the measurements are followed by calculation of demagnetization factor Nd(calc.) using the ellipsoidal approximation of the sample shape. It was found that the experimental value of Nd is 30%–40% of the calculated value Nd(calc.) for the ribbons studied. Higher values of Nd correspond to the thicker ribbons where better agreement was obtained.