STATE STANDARDS

STATE SPECIAL UNIT STANDARD OF INITIAL RELATIVE MAGNETIC PERMEABILITY

A. A. Zima, S. G. Serebryakova, A. V. Serov, UDC 621.317.4

B. P. Filimonov, and N.N.i~hernousova

Currently the magnetic parameters of materials are measured in the frequency range
from i to 200 MHz by various impedance (admittance) meters, Q-meters, and transmission
lines together with primary transducers. Further, special instruments for determining mag-
netic permeability are being developed in different branches and departments. Thus, the
stock of measuring facilities for magnetic quantities used in the national economy is very
broad with respect to nomenclature, to the functions performed and the variety of conversion
methods for the quantities measured, to the construction of the equipment, to the operating
principles, and to the form in which data are presented. The metrological testing of this
stock is a complicated and urgent task for domestic metrology.
In 1980 Gosstandart approved a State Special Standard for a unit of initial relative
magnetic permeability and a State Checking Scheme for the measuring facilities of initial
magnetic permeability in a frequency range from 1 to 200 MHz as developed at the Siberian
Scientific-Research Institute of Metrology. The standard is designed to reproduce and pre-
serve the unit of initial relative magnetic permeability at a frequency of i00 MHz, and to
transfer the value of the unit~over the indicated frequency range by means of a working
standard and reference measuring facilities to working measuring facilities. ,The optimal
constitution of the standard, the choice of the reproduction method for the unit of initial
relative magnetic permeability, and the means for transferring its value were determined from
an analysis of literature data [1-5] and from the results of studies conducted at the Siberian
Scientific-Research Institute of Metrology.
To reproduce a number of values for the magnetic permeability one would naturally utilize
the magnetic properties of the various substances, especially ferromagnetic materials, and
consider the latter as standard carriers of this property. However, at this stage such a
reproduction method is inadvisable because of the inadequate time and frequency stability of
the magnetic properties of these materials and also the poor measuring accuracy for magnetic
permeability, particularly at high frequencies. Consequently in the standard under considera-
tion the wave properties of coaxial lines at high and superhigh frequencies are being used.
Since the input impedance Z of a short-circuited section of coaxial line is a function both
of the magnetic permeability for the medium filling it ~' and its length l, it is then possi-
ble to compute the lengths of line sections for a given value of Z and values of ~' [6].
A desired value for the computed magnetic permeability of a standard section is found
from the formula

Z = - 2 ; - - ~ h v V ~ ~ l, (i)

where Zo is the characteristic impedance of the line while ~* and ~* are the complex dielec-
tric and magnetic permeabilities, respectively, of the medium filling the line.
For the condition ~' = 1 and ~"D" = O, Eq. (i) takes the form

z = jzo tg (2)
~ e n air fills a section of line, then~ w i t h i n an error much less than specified, we
will have ~'~' ~ i, ~"r = 0, and the input impedance obtained for a length I is:

Fig. 1
Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5~ pp. 16-17, May, 1981.

0543-1972/81/2405-0351507.50 9 1981 Plenum Publishing Corporation 351

 [I State Special Unit Stan-
| I dard of Initial Magnetic
i I Permeability, lO0"~41-tz,
llS0 = 2 "10-~; O0 = 9 ' 10-4

' t
fC eok n " ",,
[ meansbY a J
K,~ comparator j
I
1Working standards, i
1-200 •lt-Iz, So =
2 91073 ....
r
/~iethod of di--N /~Cheeking by"~
.__.[ feet measure- -t meansoi'a [ - -
~kments j '~.~.~ eomparatorj7
f
t lSt'andardspeeimensl ! Standard specimens I
Iof ma~nene per- I of magnetic per-
[meabfiity 5-20, I meability 20-100, |
1%, t ,)_~= 1% ,,l
1
i fMetho, of ai:h
| rect measure-
k ments - ,~

~ l [Instruments Instruments
Ibased on re based on in-
accessories I Isor~ant cjr- terference
5-100~,80 = [ Icuits z-.tuu circuits
18o = 5-10 ~176 2-100 6Q =
9

5-Io~;

Instruments ~rlstruments
based on ased on ge-
bridge eir- nerator cir-
cuitg 2-100, cuits 5-I00,
6n = 3-~% 80 = 3-10%

Fig. 2

z = i Zo ~g ~l,. (3)

FromEqs. (2) and (3) the value of l~ is computed with sufficient accuracy for given
values of ~'
This method has made it possible to reproduce a series of values for magnetic permeabil-
ity f~om 5 to 30. In order to reduce the random error in reproducing the unit of initial rela-
tive magnetic permeability, five groups of gauges were prepared from nine coaxial sections.
The value of the unit is transferred to the working standard by means of a comparator.
A twin-T measuring bridge was ahosen as a comparator [7]. A distinctive feature of the
circuit is that the voltage source and the zero-equilibrium indicator are connected to a com-
mon ground point to which one of the leads from the impedance being measured is also joined.
This avoids the use of shielded and symmetrical transformers that are mounted in the usual
bridges. The capacities and leakage conductances that exist between impedances and shields
or between shields and the ground in this case turn out to be connected in parallel with the
the input and will not shunt the isolated parts of the circuit. Thus with the proper inclu-
sion of all factors that affect measuring results it is possible to ensure high measuring
accuracy even at very high frequencies.
In order to eliminate systematic error in the ffransfer of a unit value, a second com-
parator is employed which is designed to be a resonant circuit. It consists of a bridge
having arms that are formed by two identical extensiDle coaxial lines operating as half-wave
resonators. The resonators are excited in opposite phase by an external generator through
a differential matching transformer by means of inductive probes (loops).

352
 The equilibrimn indicator is connected to the bridge through a symmetrical network formed
from the capacity probes and two resistors. On one end the lines are always short-circuited
and on the other they are fitted with unipolar couplings for connecting the standard sections
being compared. The surfaces of the sliding contacts are located close to the area of current
nodes in order to reduce the effect of contact-resistance variations during a change in the
length of the line. The lengths of the line can be measured jointly -- when shifting to dif-
ferent values of the quantities being compared for rough tuning to resonance, and separately
- - when balancing the bridge accurately to resonance.
A functional diagram of the standard is shown in Fig. i, where 1 is a frequency meter,
2 is a generator, 3 is a comparator, 4 is a group of five sets of standards for magnetic per-
meability, and 5 is an indicator unit.
The state checking scheme for magnetic-permeability measuring facilities is shown in
Fig. 2.
The system for transferring the unit value of relative magnetic permeability from the
standard to working measuring facilities was developed on the basis of available recommenda-
tions for optimizing the structure of checking schemes. Based on economic considerations and
the degree of accuracy between the standard created and the working measuring facilities a
scheme was chosen that consists of the standard, a working standard with steps that extend
the range of the magnetic permeability from 2 to I00 and the frequency from 1 to 200 MHz, and
RMFstandards for which standard specimens of magnetic permeability are proposed. These make
it possible to perform a complete check on working measuring facilities. At the Siberian
Scientific-Research Institute of Metrology a set of standard magnetic-permeability spec-
imens have been developed for a frequency range from 1 to 200 MHz with D' from i0
to 60. Their certified characteristics are in error by no more than 1%. The checking scheme
that has been developed also corresponds tothe recommendatiofis approved by PKS SEV for member
countries of the COMECON: MS 4577 "Measuring Facilities for the Magnetic Permeability of Ferro-
magnetic Materials at Frequencies from 1 to 200 MHz. Checking Scheme."
The introduction of the standard and an All-Union Checking Scheme makes it possible to
provide a metrological guarantee for magnetic-permeability measuring facilities and will pro-
mote progress in various areas of radio-engineering and electronics.
N. N. Che~1ousova has been approved as the scientific guardian of the State Special Unit
Standard of Initial Relative Magnetic Permeability.

LITERATURE CITED
i. A. K. Klinch, TIIER, Ser. "Checking-and-measuring instruments and measurements," ~M-23,
No. 4 (1974).
2, Kh. E. Basi, TIIER, 55, No. 6 (1967).
3. Tosio Nemoto, D@nki Sik~nse K@nkyu Khokoku, 108, No. 5 (1970).
4. N. N, Chernousova, Contemporary Methods and Standard Measuring Facilities for the Elec-
tromagnetic Parameters of Standard Ferrite and Magnet~dielectric Specimens [in Russian],
VNIIKI, Moscow (1978).
. E. F. Baev, et al., Inductive Elements with Ferromagnetic Cores [in Russian], Sov. Radio,
Moscow (1976).
6. I. E. Efimov, Radio-Frequency Transmission Lines [in Russian], Sov. Radio, Moscow (1954).
7. A. F. Kugaevskii, Parameter Measurements of Ferromagnetic Materials at High Frequencies
~in Russian], Standartov, Moscow (1973).

353