- Magnetic field of steady currents
- Magnetic forces
- Magnetic properties of matter
Role of exchange interaction
The magnetic properties of iron are thought to be the result of the magnetic moment associated with the spin of an electron in an outer atomic shell—specifically, the third d shell. Such electrons are referred to as magnetization electrons. The Pauli exclusion principle prohibits two electrons from having identical properties; for example, no two electrons can be in the same location and have spins in the same direction. This exclusion can be viewed as a “repulsive” mechanism for spins in the same direction; its effect is opposite that required to align the electrons responsible for the magnetization in the iron domains. However, other electrons with spins in the opposite direction, primarily in the fourth s atomic shell, interact at close range with the magnetization electrons, and this interaction is attractive. Because of the attractive effect of their opposite spins, these s-shell electrons influence the magnetization electrons of a number of the iron atoms and align them with each other.
A simple empirical representation of the effect of such exchange forces invokes the idea of an effective internal, or molecular, field Hint, which is proportional in size to the magnetization M; that is, Hint = λM in which λ is an empirical parameter. The resulting magnetization M equals χp(H + λM), in which χp is the susceptibility that the substance would have in the absence of the internal field. Assuming that χp = C/T, corresponding to Curie’s law, the equation M = C(H + λM)/T has the solution χ = M/H = C/(T − Cλ) = C/(T − Tc). This result, the Curie–Weiss law, is valid at temperatures greater than the Curie temperature Tc (see below); at such temperatures the substance is still paramagnetic because the magnetization is zero when the field is zero. The internal field, however, makes the susceptibility larger than that given by the Curie law. A plot of 1/χ against T still gives a straight line, as shown in Figure 14, but 1/χ becomes zero when the temperature reaches the Curie temperature.
Since 1/χ = H/M, M at this temperature must be finite even when the magnetic field is zero. Thus, below the Curie temperature, the substance exhibits a spontaneous magnetization M in the absence of an external field, the essential property of a ferromagnet. The Table gives Curie temperature values for various ferromagnetic substances.
|iron (Fe)||1,043 K|
|cobalt (Co)||1,394 K|
|nickel (Ni)||631 K|
|gadolinium (Gd)||293 K|
|manganese arsenide (MnAs)||318 K|
In the ferromagnetic phase below the Curie temperature, the spontaneous alignment is still resisted by random thermal energy, and the spontaneous magnetization M is a function of temperature. The magnitude of M can be found from the paramagnetic equation for the reduced magnetization M/Ms = f(mB/kT) by replacing B with μ(H + λM). This gives an equation that can be solved numerically if the function f is known. When H equals zero, the curve of (M/Ms) should be a unique function of the ratio (T/Tc) for all substances that have the same function f. Such a curve is shown in Figure 15, together with experimental results for nickel and a nickel–copper alloy.
The molecular field theory explains the existence of a ferromagnetic phase and the presence of spontaneous magnetization below the Curie temperature. The dependence of the magnetization on the external field is, however, more complex than the Curie–Weiss theory predicts. The magnetization curve is shown in Figure 16 for iron, with the field B in the iron plotted against the external field H. The variation is nonlinear, and B reaches its saturation value S in small fields. The relative permeability B/μ0H attains values of 103 to 104 in contrast to an ordinary paramagnet, for which μ is about 1.001 at room temperature. On reducing the external field H, the field B does not return along the magnetization curve. Even at H = 0, its value is not far below the saturation value.