Low-field variation of magnetic susceptibility measured by the KLY-4S Kappabridge and KLF-4A magnetic susceptibility meter: Accuracy and interpretational programme

Abstract

The KLY-4S Kappabridge and KLF-4A Magnetic Susceptibility Meter enable automated measurement of susceptibility variation with field in the ranges of 2–450 A/m and 5–300 A/m (in effective values), respectively. Unfortunately, the measurement accuracy decreases with decreasing field and it is not easy to decide whether the susceptibility variation at the lowest fields is natural phenomenon or results from measuring errors. To overcome this problem, the accuracies of both the above instruments were investigated experimentally using artificial specimens (mixture of pure magnetite and plaster of Paris) with variable susceptibilities ranging from 1 × 10−5 to 5 × 10−2. The complete curve of the field variation of susceptibility of each specimen was measured 10 times and the relative error was calculated for each field.