Susceptibility and permeability

The properties of a material are defined not only by the magnetization, or the magnetic induction,
but by the way in which these quantities vary with the applied magnetic field.

The ratio of M to H is called the susceptibility:

X=M/H

The susceptibility indicates how responsive a material is to an applied magnetic field. (Sometimes
the symbol K is used for the susceptibility per unit volume; then X = k/ ro is the susceptibility per
unit mass.)

The ratio of B to H is called the permeability:

Mu= B/ H

Mu indicates how permeable the material is to the magnetic field. A material which concentrates a
large amount of flux density in its interior has a high permeability. Using the relation B = H + 4piM
gives us the relationship (in cgs units) between permeability and susceptibility:

Mu= 1 + 4 pi X

Note that in SI units the susceptibility us dimensionless, and permeability is in units of Henry/m.
The corresponding relationship between permeability and susceptibility in SI units is

Mu/ mu0 = 1 + X

Where Mu0 is the permeability in free space.

Graphs of M or B vs H are called magnetización curves, and are characteristic of the type of
material. Lets look at a few, for the most common types of magnetic materials.

The magnetizations of diamagnetic, paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials are plotted

schematically as a function of applied field in Fig.2.2 for all these materials the M-H curves are
linear. Rather large applied fields are required to cause rather small changes in magnetization, and
no magnetization is retained when the applied field is removed. For diamagnetic, the slope of the
M -H curve is negative, so the susceptibility is small and negative, and the permeability is slightly
les than 1. For paramagnets and antiferromagnets the slope is positive and the susceptibility and
permeability are correspondingly small and positive, and slightly grearter than 1, respectively.

Figure 2.3 shows schematic magnetization curves for ferrimagnets and ferromagnets. The first
point to note is that the axis scales are completely different from those in fig. 2.2 In this case, a
much larger magnetization is obtained on application of a much smaller external field. Second, the
magnetization saturates above a certain applied field, an increase in field causes only a very small
increase in magnetization. Clearly both X and Mu are large and positive, and are functions of the
applied field. Finally, decreasung the field to zero after saturation does not reduce the
magnetization toz ero. This phenemenom is called hysteresis. And is very important in
technological application. For example the fact that ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials
retain their magnetization in the absence of a field allows them to be made into permanente
magnets.
Fuente: Magnetic materials fundamentals and application, de Nicola A. Spaldin