Materials: engineering, science, properties, and design (4th edition)

M.F. Ashby, H.R. Shercliff and D. Cebon

Exercises with Solutions for Chapter 16

Exercise E16.1 A cylindrical coil with a length L = 30 mm with n = 75 turns carries a current i = 0.1
A. What is the field in the magnet? A silicon-iron core with a relative permeability µR = 3000 is
placed in the core of the coil. What is the magnetization of the silicon-iron? The permeability of free
space µo = 4 π x 10 −7 H/m.

Answer. The electro-magnet produces a field

ni 75 × 0.1
H= = = 250 A / m
L 30 × 10 −3
The relative permeability of the ferrite is µR = 3000 . Thus the induction is

B = µR µo H = 3000 × 4π × 10 −7 × 250 = 0.94 Tesla

The magnetization is
B 0.94
M= −H= − 250 = 7.5 × 10 5 A / m
µo 4π × 10 −7

(This is well below the saturation magnetization of silicon iron.)

Exercise E16.2 Sketch a M - H curve for a ferro-magnetic material. Identify on it the saturation
magnetization, the remanent magnetization, the coercive field and the susceptibility. Which
combination is desirable in a soft magnet for a transformer core? Which combination for the
permanent magnets of the DC motor of a hybrid car?

Answer. The sketch identifies the important magnetic

properties.
• Soft magnets (transformer cores) need large
saturation magnetization, small coercive field and
high susceptibility.
• Hard magnets (DC motors for vehicle propulsion)
need large remanent magnetization and large
coercive field.

Exercise E16.3 A neodymium-boron magnet has a coercive field Hc of 1.03 × 106 A/m a saturation
magnetization Ms = 1.25 × 106 A/m, a remanent magnetization Mr = 1.1 × 106 A/m and a large
energy product. Sketch approximately what its M − H hysteresis curve looks like.

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Answer. The hysteresis loop is drawn to
scale here. The large energy product
means that the loop must be nearly
square. It is typical of a hard magnetic
material.

Exercise E16.4 What are the necessary conditions for a material to be ferromagnetic at a
temperature T?
Answer. To be ferromagnetic a material must contain
1. Atoms that have unpaired electrons, giving them a magnetic moment.
2. An exchange energy that is large enough to make the magnetic moments align despite the
randomizing tendency of the thermal energy, kT.
3. The propensity for the moments to align parallel (giving ferromagnetism, as in Fe, Ni and Co),
not anti-parallel (giving anti-ferromagnetic behaviour, as in Cr).

Exercise E16.5 What is a ferrite? What are its characteristics?

Answer. Ferrites are ferri-magnetic oxides. One class of them has the formula M Fe2O4 where M is
also a magnetic atom, such as cobalt, Co. Both the Fe and the Co atoms have dipoles but they differ
in strength. They line up in the anti-parallel configuration, but because of the difference the
moments the cancellation is incomplete, leaving a net moment M . The partial cancellation and the
smaller number of magnetic atoms per unit volume means they have lower saturation magnetization
than iron but they have other advantages, notably that, being oxides, they are electrical insulators.

Exercise E16.6 What is a Bohr magneton? A magnetic element has 2 unpaired electrons and an
exchange interaction that causes them to align such that their magnetic fields are parallel. Its atomic
volume, Ω , is 3.7 × 10-29 m3. What would you expect its saturation magnetization, Ms , to be?

Answer. A Bohr magneton mB is the magnetic dipole moment associated with the spin of a single
electron. Its value is 9.27 × 10-24 A.m2. The saturation magnetization of a material containing atoms
with unpaired electrons is the sum of all the atomic moments contained in a unit volume of the
material when they are all aligned in the same direction. If the magnetic dipole per atom is nmmB
(where nm is the number of unpaired electrons per atom) then the saturation magnetization
(equation (16.10)) is
nm mB
Ms =
Ω
where Ω is the atomic volume. Thus the saturation magnetization of the magnetic element with
two unpaired electrons is 0.50 A/m.

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Exercise E16.7 Cobalt has a density ρ of 8900 kg/m3, and atomic weight Awt of 58.93 kg/kmol. The
net magnetic moment of a cobalt atom, in Bohr magnetons per atom, is nm = 1.8. What is the
saturation magnetization Ms of cobalt?

Answer. The number of atoms per unit volume in cobalt is

N ρ
n = A = 9.1× 10 28 /m3
Awt
(here N A is Avogadro’s number, 6.022 × 1026 atoms/kmol). The saturation magnetization Ms is the
net magnetic moment per atom nm mB times the number of atoms per unit volume, n :
Ms = n nm mB
where mB = 9.27 × 10-24 A.m2 is the magnetic moment of one Bohr magneton. Thus the saturation
magnetization of cobalt is
Ms = 9.1×10 28 ×1.8 × 9.27 ×10 −24 = 1.52×10 6 A/m

Exercise E16.8 The element with the largest saturation magnetization is Holmium, with Ms = 3.0 ×
106 A/m (although it has a miserably low Curie temperature of 20 K). The density ρ of Holmium is
8800 kg/m3 and its atomic weight Awt is 165 kg/kmol. What is the atomic magnetic moment nm , in
Bohr magnetons per atom, of Holmium?
Answer. The number of atoms per unit volume in Holmium is
N ρ
n = A = 3.2 × 10 28 /m3
Awt
(here N A is Avogadro’s number, 6.022 × 1026 atoms/kmol). The saturation magnetization Ms is the
net magnetic moment per atom nm mB times the number of atoms per unit volume, n :
M s = n n m mB
where mB = 9.27 × 10-24 A.m2 is the magnetic moment of one Bohr magneton. Thus the atomic
magnetic moment nBM of Holmium is
Ms
nm = = 10 Bohr magnetons per atom.
n mB

Exercise E16.9 The soft iron laminations of transformers are made of 3wt% (6at%) silicon-iron.
Silicon-iron has a density ρ of 7650 kg/m3, and a mean atomic weight Awt of 54.2 kg/kmol. The net
magnetic moment of an iron atom, in Bohr magnetons per atom, is nm = 2.2; that of silicon is zero.
What is the saturation magnetization Ms of 3wt% silicon-iron?

Answer. The number of atoms per unit volume in silicon-iron is

NA ρ
n= = 8.5 × 10 28 /m3
Awt
(here N A is Avogadro’s number, 6.022 × 1026 atoms/kmol). The saturation magnetization
Ms depends on the net magnetic moment per atom nm mB as
Ms = n nm mB
where mB = 9.27 × 10-24 A.m2 is the magnetic moment of one Bohr magneton and n is the number of
atoms carrying a magnetic moment – in this case, 96% of the total number of atoms, since the 6% of
silicon atoms carry no moment. Thus the saturation magnetization of silicon iron is
Ms = 0.96 × 8.5 × 10 28 × 2.2 × 9.27 × 10 −24 = 1.67 × 106 A/m

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Exercise E16.10 Nickel has a density ρ of 8900 kg/m3, and atomic weight Awt of 58.7 kg/kmol and a
saturation magnetization Ms of 5.2 × 105 A/m. What is the atomic magnetic moment nm , in Bohr
magnetons per atom, of nickel?
Answer. The number of atoms per unit volume in nickel is
N ρ
n = A = 9.13 × 10 28 /m3
Awt
(here N A is Avogadro’s number, 6.022 × 1026 atoms/kmol). The saturation magnetization
Ms depends on the net magnetic moment per atom nm mB as
Ms = n nm mB
where mB = 9.27 × 10-24 A.m2 is the magnetic moment of one Bohr magneton. Thus
5.2×10 5
nm = = 0.61 Bohr magnetons per nickel atom.
9.27 ×10 −24 × 9.13×10 28

Exercise E16.11 A coil of 50 turns and length 10 mm carries a current of 0.01 A. The core of the coil is
made of a material with a susceptibility χ = 104. What is the magnetization, M and the induction B ?

Answer. The field created by the current, in the absence of a core, is

n i 50 × 0.01
H= = = 50 A / m
L 10 × 10 −3

Now add the core with a susceptibility χ = 104. The magnetization is

M = χ H = 5 × 105 A/m;

And the induction is

B = µ o χ H = 0.628 T

Exercise E16.12 An inductor core is required for a low frequency harmonic filter. The requirement is
for low loss and high saturation magnetization. Using the charts of Figures 16.9 and 16.10 as data
sources, which class of magnetic material would you choose?
Answer. The application requires high Ms , low coercive field Hc (or, equivalently, a high
susceptibility χ ). The best choices are a Metglas amorphous alloy or Permendur.

Exercise E16.13 A magnetic material is required for the core of a transformer that forms part of a
radar speed camera. It operates at a microwave frequency of 500 kHz. Which class of material would
you choose?
Answer. Table 16.1 indicates the best choice to be a cubic ferrite, MFe2O4 with M = Cu, Mn or Ni, to
give low hysteretic and eddy current loss.

Exercise E16.14 Which soft magnetic material has the greatest saturation magnetization, Ms ,
allowing it to concentrate magnetic field most effectively? Which has the greatest relative
permeability, µR , allowing the highest inductance B for a given applied field H ? The Saturation
magnetization – Permeability chart (Figure 16.10) can help.
Answer. The chart shows that the iron-cobalt Permadur series of alloys have the highest saturation
magnetization and induction. The Metglas series of amorphous alloys have the highest permeability.

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Exercise E16.15 The product Br Hc is a crude measure of the “power” of a permanent magnet (if the
B − H curve were a perfect rectangle, it becomes equal to what is called the energy product, a more
realistic measure of the power). Draw contours of Br Hc onto a copy of the Remanent induction –
Coercive field chart (Figure 16.9) and use these to identify the most powerful permanent magnet
materials.
Answer. The figure shows
the chart with the required
contours plotted on it.
Neodymium-based
magnets offer by far the
greatest power. After
them come Cobalt-
Samarium alloys Alnicos
(alloys of aluminum, nickel
and cobalt).

Exercise E16.16 A soft magnetic material for the core of a small high frequency power transformer.
The transformer gets hot in use; forced air cooling limits the rise in temperature to 200oC. Eddy
current losses are a problem if the core is electrically conducting. What material would you
recommend for the core? The Coercive field – Curie temperature chart (Figure 16.11) can help.
Answer. The core must be a soft magnetic material, an electrical insulator and capable of use at
200oC. The chart of Figure 16.11 suggests that soft (cubic) ferrites can meet these constraints. The
best choice is then the soft ferrite with the lowest coercive field (to reduce losses) with a Curie
temperature substantially above 200oC. The alternative is to use silicon-iron or a nickel-iron
Permalloy or MuMetal, laminating the core with insulating separators to limit eddy current losses.

Exercise E16.17 A material is required for a flexible magnetic seal. It must be in the form of an
elastomeric sheet and must be electrically insulating. How would you propose to make such a
material?
Answer. The way to make flexible magnets is to disperse ferro or ferri-magnetic particles in an
elastomer such as Neoprene, Isoprene or PVC. Metallic particles of iron, nickel or cobalt can be used
but if exposed to moisture or chemicals they may corrode. Ferrite particles, being oxides, are much
more stable.

Exercise E16.18 What are the characteristics required of materials for magnetic information storage?
Answer. Magnetic information storage requires hard magnets with a rectangular magnetization
curve (called “square”). The squareness means that a unit of the material can flip in magnetization
from +Mr to −Mr and back when exposed to fields above + Hc or – Hc . The unit thus stores one
binary bit of information. The information is read by moving the magnetized unit past a read head
where it induces an electric pulse.

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Exercise E16.19 An electro-magnet is designed to pick up and move car parts – the car part becomes
a temporary part of the core, completing the magnetic circuit. The field H is created by a coil 100
mm long with a cross section of 0.1 m2 with 500 turns of conductor carrying a current of 25 A. What
force can the electro-magnet exert?
Answer. The field generated by a magnet of length L of 100 mm with n = 500 turns carrying a
current i = 25 A is
ni
H= = 125 ,000 A/m
L
The force F exerted by an electromagnet on a section of core material is:
1
F= µ oH 2 A
2
(here A is the area of the core) provided that the core does not saturate. Iron has a saturation
magnetization Hs of about 1.8 × 106 A/m, plenty high enough to avoid saturation. Thus the force
exerted by the electro-magnet is
1
F= × 4 π × 10 −7 × (125 ,000 )2 × 0.1 = 982 N ≈ 1 kN
2
Thus the magnet is capable of lifting a ferromagnetic part weighing about 98 kg.

Exercise E16.20 What, approximately, is the maximum induction B that is possible in a

superconducting coil made of YBCO (the oxide superconductor YBa2Cu3O7) at the temperature of
liquid nitrogen (77K)? Use Figure 16.20 to find out. What is the maximum energy density that can be
stored in such a coil? How does this compare with crude oil with an energy density of 35 MJ/liter?
(not a fair comparison because the superconductor requires ancillary equipment to support it, but
make the comparison anyway).

Answer. Inspection of Figure 16.20 suggests a maximum value for B of about 100 T. Thus the
maximum energy-density is approximately
W 1 B2 1  100 2 
 = 6.37 × 1010 J/m 3 = 3 ,979 MJ/m 3
= = 
V 2 µo 2  4 π × 10 −7 

The value 35 MJ/liter for crude oil translates to 35,000 MJ/m3.

Exercise E16.21 The figure shows the

characteristics of magnetocaloric materials.
The vertical axis shows the temperature
drop on demagnetization from a 2T field;
the horizontal axis shows the limited
temperature range of which this magnetic
order/disorder transformation is possible.
You are asked to recommend one or more
materials for use in a solid-state refrigerator
to operate (as most fridges do) in the
temperature range 2 – 6 C. What would you
choose?

Answer. The magnetocaloric materials with a working range that span 2 – 6 C are MnAs (perhaps
best avoided because arsenic is toxic), gadolinium (which is not toxic) La(Fe,Si)H and GdGeSi. The last
of these has the highest performance in terms of cooling and so needs the smallest field for its
operation.

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Exercise E16.22 The figure shows the
characteristics of magnetostrictive materials.
The vertical axis is the maximum strain that
results from magnetization – it is reversible, so
recovers when the field is removed. The
horizonal axis is the field needed to cause the
magnetization. You are asked to select a
material for a magnetostrictive actuator,
maximizing the strain, but with the limitation
that the field for switching is to be provided by
a cylindrical coil with a length L = 30 mm with
n = 75 turns and a maximum current i = 1 A.

Answer. the maximum field available is

ni 75 × 0.1
H= = = 250 A / m
L 30 × 10 −3

This is sufficient to exceed the coercive field of Gafenol (an alloy of gallium and iron) but not that of
Terfenol D (an alloy of terbium, dysprosium and iron). Gafenol is the best choice, maximizing the
magnetostrictive strain and able to operate with the available field.