MAGNETICS,

TRANSACTIONS
ON
IEEE VOL.
NO.MAG-10, 2, JUNE
195 1974

5. RESET
FIELD
considered
ment.
is It that
tests
the
could
readily
be adapted
for inspection procedure.
The Reset Field is proportional to the H z valuegiven by
theCCFR3testbuttheproportionality is different
for
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
varioustypes of resetemployedandhastobedetermined
for each application. The
authors
acknowledge contributions
of F. Wood,
M.O.D., England,andalsothankthedirectorsofTekon
Metals Ltd. for permission to publish this paper.

6. SUMMARY REFERENCES
There is a needforauniversallyaccepted method of [l] D. R. Driver, “Pulse Transformers - use of nickel-iron alloys,”
Design Electronics, June, 1970.
specifyingNi/Fecores
for
powerpulse transformer and
[2] H. W. Lord,“PulseTransformers,” IEEE Trans. Mugn., vol.
saturablereactorapplicationswithreset.Testmethodsde- , MAG-7, pp. 17-28, ~ ~ 1971.
~ ~ h ,
scribedcorrelatewellwithperformanceinthe f i n d equip- ‘ [ 3 ] AmericanSociety for TestingandMaterials,A598-69.

Magnetic Properties and Domain Structure \

in Grain-Oriented 3 % Si-Fe
J. W. SHILLING AND G. L. HOUZE, JR.

Abstract-Magnetic domain observations have been used to tive. Generalawarenessofthisstructuresensitivityhasper-

clarifytherelationshipbetweenmetallurgicalstructureand mitted a gradual improvement in magnetic properties by con-
thecore loss, permeability,andmagnetostrictionof grain- trol of suchmetallurgicalvariables as therecrystallization
oriented 3% Si-Fe. Both the prediction of domain structures texture, impurity and residual stress levels, composition and
based on anisotropy, magnetostatics, stress, etc., and the vari- degree of order, etc. Although the properties are known t o be
ous methods of makingdomainobservationsarereviewed. structure sensitive and have been improved accordingly, little
Both static and dynamic domain structures are shown and used attention has been paid to the actual domain structures exist-
t o illustrate the relationships among domain structure, metal- ing in these materials during magnetization, and therefore little
lurgicalstructure,andmagneticproperties,Corelossesare is generally known about the precise origin of magnetic prop-
shown to depend on the domain wallspacingandmobility, erties in termsof domain structure. The purpose of the present
which in turn are controlled by grainsize,stress, and defect paper is t o review the development of ferromagnetic domain
structure. The high field permeability ( B at fi = 10 Oe) is re- theory in grain-oriented 3% Si-Fe, and to present the current
lated to the amount of flux closure structure present, which is domaintheoriesofsuchmagneticproperties as coreloss,
determined by the misorientation of the grains in the material. permeability and magnetostriction. As an excellent introduc-
Magnetostriction is caused entirely by the motion of 90” do- tion t o this topic, the reader is referred to the review paper by
main walls which are introduced during the formation of flux Kittel [ 11. Grain-oriented 3% Si-Fehasbeenprimarilycon-
closure structure and by residual or applied stress. sidered, since it has been post thoroughly investigated and is of
significant commercial importance. In reviewing this field, the
following general topicswill be considered: “Domain Theory”,
1. INTRODUCTION
“Domain
Observation
Techniques,”
“Observed
Domain
Struc-
M~~~ of the important magnetic properties of soft magnetic tures,” and “Magnetic Property-Domain Structure Correlation”.
materials are derived from rearrangements of ferromagneticdo-
mains during magnetization and are thus quite structure sensi- 2. DOMAIN THEORY
Ferromagneticdomainsareferromagneticallyordered re-
Manuscript received January 13, 1974.
J. W. ShillingwaswiththeWestinghouseElectricCorporationRe- gions within which the magnetization is equal to the satura-
searchandDevelopmentCenter,Pittsburgh,Pa.He is nowwiththe tion magnetization; therefore, the net magnetization of a ma-
Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation Research Center, Brackenridge, terial is the vector sum of the magnetization within all domains.
Pa. 15014.
G. L. Hauze, Jr., is with
the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation When amagnetic Or externai is to a magnetic
Research
Center,
Brackenridge,
15014.
Pa. material,
changes
occur in domain
the structure
which
produce
196
changes in the overall sample magnetization, as well as changes Magnetostatic Energy
in sample dimensions, i.e., magnetostriction.
Changes indomainstructurecanoccurbytwoprincipal
means. Either the magnetization within each domain can co-
herently rotate to a direction parallel to the applied field, or
the boundary between two domains can move causing the en-
tire magnetization change to be localized at the domain bound-
ary. In materials such as 3% Si-Fe where the magnetocrystalline
anisotropy ( K 1 ) is large, domain rearrangements occur largely
by movement of boundaries or walls between domains. These
walls aretypically 1000 a wide. Thus, during magnetization
thedirectionofmagnetizationwithineachdomainremains
fixed t o certain crystal directions, and the volume of individual bar, and thus the term “free pole’’ energy has been used to
domainschanges, i.e., domainsmore closelyparallel tothe
applied field grow at the expense of others. Domain rotation
in these materials occurs onlyin large applied fields ( H > 10 Oe). given by the expression
In materials where K 1 is small, such as in 80% Ni-Fe alloys
(Permalloy, Mumetai, etc.) significant rotation occurs through-
out magnetization, and the width of the boundary or wall is
large.Inthesematerialsdomainsarenotfixed t o crystallo- where &is
graphicdirectionsandmaywanderthroughoutthesample.
Unfortunately,itisnotpossibletopredictthedomain
structures in 3% Si-Fe simply by a minimization of the total
crystal energy. Instead, one must adopt a process ofpostulat-
ing domain structures and then estimating their total energy.
The expected domain structures, of the ones postulated, are
those with the minimum energy. Obviously, this process cannot
possiblysucceed in engineeringmaterialswherethedomain
structures are reasonably complex and where many structures
have approximatelythesameenergy.Infact,grain-oriented
3% Si-Fe often lacks a unique demagnetized state, and domain
processes during cyclic magnetization are often nonrepetitive.
Nevertheless,considerableinsight intothetypes ofdomain
structure generally found in these materials can be gained
an order-of-magnitude consideration of the dominant terms in
theexpressionforthetotalenergy of the domain structure.
InSi-Fealloysthedominantenergytermsarethemagneto-
static energy E D , themagnetocrystallineanisotropyenergy
E k , the magnetoelastic energy EA,the wall energy E,, and the
energy of the domains in the presence of an applied field E H .
Fig. 1. Ferromagnetic sheet saturated (a) along y direction, and (b) at
angle 0 t o y direction, (+, - denote areas of magnetostatic charge).
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE 1974
The magnetostatic energy ED represents the total “free pole
energy” of the domain structure. Consider the sheet of ferro-
magnetic material shown in Fig. l ( a ) . This sheet contains only
onedomainand is saturatedparalleltoalongdimension
(y axis) of the sample in the plane of the sheet.’ In this case a
large magnetic field would exist at the ends of the bar as in a
permanent magnet. This field has the ability to do work, and
therefore represents an increase in the potential energy of the
ferromagnetic domain structure compared to the demagnetized
state. This field can be thought of as being created by a collec-
tion of “free magnetic poles” at the ends of the ferromagnetic
describe the magnetostatic energy.’ The magnetostatic energy
is therefore just the energy of a sample in its own field and is
1
ED = - N~AI,’
2 (1)
,the difference in the normal component of mag-
netization across the end of the bar, and N D is the demagnetiz-
ing coefficient which varies from 0 to 4r as the dimension Z of
the sample along the y axis is reduced from 00 to ‘L 0. The de-
magnetizing energy of the saturated sheet shown in Fig. l(.) is
extremely large ( Q 0.7 x 10’ergs/ccassuming ND = 0.05;
d/Z % 200), even thoughtheareaattheend of the sheet is
relatively small. Next, let us consider a sheet saturated at an
angle of 4” to the top and bottom surfaces (Fig. l(b)). In this
case, the magnetostatic energy producedat the top and bottom
surfacesmustbeadded tothatproducedattheends.The
amount introduced at the ends, is approximately the same as
that shown in Fig. l ( a ) (2’ 0.7 X lo5 ergs/cc) since AI: at the
ends is just I,” cos2 0 % 1,”.One might intuitively feel that the
by
magnetostatic energy of the top and bottom surfaces can be
neglected since AI, at these surfaces is small (I,” sin2 0 % 0.005
1,”for 0 = 4”).However, ND at the sheet surface is % 477, which
is 250 times larger than at the sheet ends, and therefore the
magnetostatic energy o f the sheet surfaces is the same order of
magnitude as the magnetostatic energy of the sheet ends. There-
fore, if one takes a saturated sheet with the dimensions shown
in Fig. l(a) and causesthedirectionofsaturationtorotate
just 4” out of the sheet plane, the magnetostatic energy is ap-
proximately doubled.
In both Figs. l(a) and ljb), themagnetostatic energy can be
reduced to nearzero by the introduction of a multidomain
structure,suchthaton all surfacesiszero.Sincethemag-
netostatic energy is large, and since it can be effectively elimi-
nated by rearrangements of domainstructurewhichreduce
AI,, a minimization of ED clearly is a major driving force for
Throughout this paper two coordinate systems are used. The x-y-z
coordinate system is fixed relative to the material, and in sheet samples
the x axis is parallel to the cross direction, the y axis is parallel to the
rolling direction, and thez axis is parallel to the sheet normal. The 1-2-3
coordinate‘system is fixedwithrespecttothecrystallatticeandthe
axes are parallel to the three orthogonal cube edges [ O O l ] , [ O l O ] , and
[ 1 0 0 ] , respectively.
2 “Free magnctic poles,” however, unlike “free electrostatic poles,”
have never been detected experimentally [2].
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 197

the creation of domains in soft magnetic materials. However, the knee of the magnetization curve. This constraint greatly
the manner in which domain structure is introduced in order simplifies the analysis and prediction of domain structures in
to reduce E D cannot be predicted until several other energy thismaterial.In 70-80% Ni-Fealloys,where K1 0 , thedo-
terms are considered. main structure does not depend in any simple way on crystal
orientation, and the analysis is much more complex. It is for
TABLE I this reason, and the fact that domains are somewhat more diffi-
Anisotropy Constants [3] of Various Alloys a t 20°C cult to observe in Ni-Fe alloys, that domain structures are less
well understood in Ni-Fe alloys.

ii Magnetoelastic Energy
-- ;I 420 150
150
The same atomic moment interactions giving rise t o ferro-
160*
-390* magnetism andmagneticanisotropyproduceforcesbetween
-433* 50” atomswhichtendtostrainthelatticeanisotropically.The
-180* magnetic energy associated with these lattice strains is called
-17* themagnetoelasticenergy E A , and to a first approximation
-7* -23*
Eh decreases linearly with increasing lattice strain or in cubic
-45 53”
crystals [ 11
350 __
225” -_
_____ _______-
*
T h e s ev a l u e sa r es e n s i t i v et ot h ed e g r e e o f atomicorder
present.

where the ai and eij (id = 1,2,3) are the direction cosines of the
Magnetocrysta&e Anisotropy Energy
magnetization and the lattice strains, respectively, with respect
The atomic interactions giving rise to ferromagnetismare to the cube axes, and E l and B2 are constants. Decreases in
generallyanisotropic;andthemagnetocrystallineanisotropy E A with increasing strain are opposed by increases in the elastic
energy Ek is that energywhich is aminimumfordomains strain energy of the crystal E,, which increase as the square
locatedparallel to certaincrystallographicdirections,which of the lattice strain or in cubic crystals
are often termed “easy directions of magnetization.” The ex-
pression for Ek in cubic materials is given by

Ek = K1 (.:a; + +a:a:)+Kz 2 1 2~ ~ 22 0 1 3 )
((~ (2)

where the ai (i = 1,2,3) are the direction cosines of the mag-

netization within a domain with respect to the cube axes, and
K1 and K2 are the first and second order anisotropy constants. whereCi1, C44, and C12 aretheelasticconstants.Thusan
When K1is large, K2 normally can be neglected, and in this equilibriumlatticestrainresultsforminimum values of the
case, the sign of K1 determines whether <1OO>(K1 0 ) or > total magnetoelastic energyEA?’, where
<111>(K1 <
0 ) directions are easy directions. Values forK1 in
variousalloysareshowninTableI. In 3% Si-Fe, K1 is large
and positive (3.5 X 10’ ergs/cc), and therefore <loo> direc-
tions are easy directions, since Ek is then equal to zero (i.e., >
Differentiation of (5) with respect to the eij (i i, i,j = 1,2,3)
(XI = 1; 012,~~3 = 0 ; Ek = 0). In Ni, on the other hand, K1 is and setting the derivative equal to zero leads to equations for
negative (-0.45 x lo5 ergs/cc),andminimum Ek occursfor the equilibrium lattice strains, 6l/Z, which are called the “spon-
maximum values of the quantity (&:a; + a;a: + ago!:). This taneous” or “free” magnetostriction strains and given are by [ 11
will occur if a1 = a2 = 013 = 6 / 3 , i.e., if the magnetization is
parallel t o <111> directions. In Ni-Fe alloys the magnitude of
K1 is much smaller than in 3% Si-Fe, and K1 changes sign near
70-80% Ni, depending on the degree of order.At 50% Ni, K 1 is
positive (% 3 X lo4 ergs/cc), and at 90% Ni,K1 .is negative
(% -1 X lo4 ergs/cc). In Ni-Fe alloys the value of K2 cannot
be neglected, especially near 70-80% Ni; K2 is negative from
50-9076 Ni, decreasing in magnitude with increasing Ni from where the pi (i = 1,2,3) are the direction cosines of the strain
-1.8 x lo’ ergslcc at 50% Ni t o % -2 x lo4 ergslcc at 90% Ni. measurement direction with respect to the cube axes.
Therefore,in50% Ni-Fe alloys <loo> directionsare easy This equation canbe written in terms of two experimentally
directions, and in 90% Ni-Fe <111> directions are easy direc- measurableequilibriumlatticestrains hlw and hill where
tions. hloo is defined as the strain in the [ 1001 direction when the
The large value of K1 in 3% Si-Fe forces all domains to be magnetization is in the [ 1001 direction (i.e., a3 = 03 = 1);and
parallel to <loo> directions throughout magnetization up to A l l 1 is defined as the strain in the [ 1111 directionwhenthe
198 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE 1974

magnetizationisinthe [111] direction (i.e., 011 = P1 = 012 = Substitution of (8) into (3)-(5) gives a value for the equi-
p 2 = a3 = P3 = l/K3). Thus using these definitions of A100 and libriumtotalmagnetoelasticenergy, E ~ T In
. the case of a
All1 "free" domain in 3%Si-Fe magnetized in the [ 0011 or 1 direc-
tion, (9) and (IO) give

E l l = A100
and
€22 = €33 = - -
A100
2

and therefore (6) becomes E.. = 0, i+j

and therefore

3
EZT = - -
4 (C11 - C12)h1002
Values for hlw and X111 in various alloys are shown in Table 11.
These values differ widely with composition and determine the (12) E:T
ergs/cc. -350
stress sensitivity and "magnetostriction" of materials. Because of the dependence of E A on lattice strain, a strong
interaction exists between the orientation of domains and re-
TABLE I1 sidual or applied stresses. If a uniform tensile stressu is applied
Magnetostriction Constants [4] ,[5] ofvarious Alloys at 2OoC toacubicferromagneticmaterial,themagnetoelasticenergy
E A can be simply written as
Composition ( w t X) XlO0 x 106 hill x 106
Fe Co Ni Si
- 3 2 2+&2 2
EA0 = - A100 U.(&Y? +a2Y2 373)
20 -15.7
70 30 -- -- loo* 10*
50 50 -- -- 150* 30" -3hlll U ( ~ 1 ~ 2 7 1 +
7@2 2 @ 3 Y 2 Y 3 +a3@1?3?1) (13)
30 70 -- -- 125" 50"
where the ai (i = 1,2,3) have been previously defined and the
50 -- 50 -- 7* 2 8"
?'i ( i = 1,2,3) are thedirection cosinesof auniformtensile
stress u with respect to the cube axes. In this expression, the
-58 -24 ordinary lattice strains introduced by the stress u and not the
23.7** - 4.1 equilibrium lattice strains of (8) havebeenused in (3) along
0* 2.0" with values of B1 and R 2 from (7a) and (7b). If one assumes
that domains are locked to certain crystallographic directions
* T h e s ev a l u e sa r e ' s e n s i t i v et ot h ed e g r e e o f atomicorder
present.
by crystalline anisotropy, as is the case in 3% Si-Fe and Ni, (13)
6)
simplifies to one of the following two expressions, depending
on the sign of K 1 :

3
As an example of how (8) is used,consideradomain in E A , = - -
2
A1000 cos2 @, ifKl > 0 (3% Si-Fe)(14a)
3% Si-Fe. Thestrainof a'domain alongthe [ O O l ] direction,
assuming the magnetization within the domain to be parallel 1 3
to the [001] (a1= l ; p l = I), is just E A , = - ~ A l o 0 o - h l l l ~ ~ ~ ~ 2ifK1<O(Ni)
@ , (14b)

where @is theangle between u and the domain whichis assumed

t o be parallel to an easy direction of magnetization. In3% Si-Fe,
him >
0 and (14a) is clearlyaminimum(-(3/2)hlooo),for
as expected. The strainof the same domain in the [ 1101, [ 1001 , domains which lie parallel to the tensile stress. In Ni, on the
other hand, XI11 < 0 (s -25 X (14b) is a minimum
or [ 0101 direction (011 = 1;01 = 0) is given by
when the quantityu cos2 @ is a minimum. Thiswill occur when
61 Si-Fe domains lie parallel t o compressive stress directions, i.e., direc-
-
- - - h l m = -11.9 X
l[0011 2
(10) tions in which u 0. <
In 3% Si-Fe the magnitude of E A , is considerably less than
Thus when a domain changes orientation from the (0011 t o E k (EhO % + 2.4 X lo4 ergs/cc for u = 1 0 000 lb/in2; domain
the [ 1001 or [OlO] , the net strain measured parallel to the perpendicular to tensile stress), and therefore, if tensile stresses
[OOl] would be < '
L 10 000 lb/in2 are applied at some oblique angle with re-
spect to the cube edges, domains can be expected to lie along
-
7 l[0011
= '
d l
-1 =- -
1 3 the closest easy direction to the tensile stress, but not parallel
2 '100 - '100 = - ? '100 toit.Residualandappliedtensile stresses thusshiftthedo-
mains,in Ni and 3% Si-Fe from one easy direction to another,
= -35.6 X (11) , move
not
do
but
themout easy
of directions.
In 70-80% Ni-Fe
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 199

and 50% Co-Fe alloys, where K1 % 0 (Table I) and him, X111

are large (Table 11), the magnetoelastic energy can exceed the
crystalanisotropyenergyand "easy directions"arethen de-
fined by the yi (i = 1,2,3) and the sign of XIoo and hill, and
not by the size of K 1 . In this circumstance the domain struc-
c
tures can become exceedingly complex and very difficult to
111
interpret.

TABLE 111
Domain Wall Energy [7] in Fe and Ni
r (ergslcc)
, Wall
Material Wall Type
[OOl] I [no] 11111 11121
I
Fe 90" .62 1.07
1.24 1.72

Ni ~ 1870.5O
0' 0.08 0.06 Fig. 3. Ferromagnetic single crystal sheets demagnetized by formation
109.5" 0.15 0.19 0.18 -- of domain structures. (a) Isotropic material. (b) - (d) (100)[001] 3%
-- Si-Fe. (e) (110)[001] 3% Si-Fe.
180' 0.31 0.32

netostatic energy of the sample shown in Fig. l ( a ) can be re-

Wall Energy
The introduction of ferromagnetic domains into an other-
wise saturated magnetic material in order to reduce ED and/or
E A will resultinanincreasein wallenergy. Thetotal wall
energy of a given domain structure is just the total wall area
times the energy per unit area I?. Values for l7 are shown in
Table I11 as a function of wall type and orientation. A18O"wall
reverses the flux by 180Oand a 9O"wall rotates the flux by 90".
These are the only two wall types possible in 3% Si-Fe since
<loo> directions are easy directions. Other wall types exist in
Ni since <111> directions are easy directions. Generally, l' in-
creases as the total spin rotation through the wall increases and
- been introducedwhich reduceA
is proportional to (AKl)lnwhere A is the exchange constant.
Wall energies for Ni are smaller than in Fe, due t o differences
in both A and K1.One can get some idea of the magnitude of
wall energybythefollowingexample.Assumethatthesat-
urated ferromagnetic sheet shown in Fig. l ( a ) is 3% Si-Fe and
let us divide thesheetintooppositelymagnetized,equally
spaceddomains as shownin Fig. 2wherethedomain wall
spacing 2L is approximately equal to the sheet thickness d . The
increase in wall energy produced by this subdivision is % r / 2 L
ergs/cc o r % 50 ergs/cc,whichissmallcompared t o all the
other energies we have considered.
Predicted Domain Structures
Let us now return to the examples of Fig. 1 and attempt to
predictthedomainstructuresonemightexpectbasedona
minimization of the sum of ED, E k , E A T , and E , . The mag-
duced to zero by reducing A ,I at the ends to zero. Domain
structures which accomplish this are shown in Figs. 3(a)-(d).
In all cases, the vector sum of all the domain magnetizations
weighted by their volume fractions is zero, and, therefore, the
samplesaredemagnetized.In Fig. 3(a), "onedomain"exists
whichgraduallyrotatesnearthe edges,always maintaining
A ,I = 0. Thisprocesscan beexpectedinamaterialwhere
K 1 % 0 and u % 0. However,in 3% Si-Fe,suchaprocess
would not occur since gradual rotations of the magnetization
away from cube edges increase E k . A structure that might be
expectedin 3% Si-Fewitha(100)sheetplaneisshownin
Fig. 3(b). In this case, four 90"walls and one 180°wall have
I, and ED t o zero. In addition,
Ek is zero, and since E , % 0 , the total energy of the structure
neglecting EAT is nearly zero. There is a significant increase in
magnetoelastic energy, however, due to the fact that the lattice
is dilated by hloo along the direction of magnetization within
each domain, and thus opposing dilations exist in the vicinity
of the 90"walls. Theseopposingdilations do not allow the
domains in the sample to relax to equilibrium ( 8 ) , and thus an
increase in magnetoelastic energy occurs. The increase in mag-
netoelastic energy which resulis, however, is difficult to calcu-
late since the final, nonequilibrium strains of the domains must
beknown.Kittel [ 11 hasassumedthatequilibriumlattice
strains exist in the large or main domains (along the +[OO1] in
Fig. 3(b)), and that the closure domains (i.e., domains across
the ends of illustration) are strained identically t o those of the
main domains in order that the shapeof the sample not change
when the closure domains are introduced. In this case the mag-
netoelastic energy of the sample will be increased by an amount
&AT where

where E ~ isT the magnetoelastic energy of the closure domains

Fig. 2. Demagnetizedferromagneticsheet.Arrowsshowdirection of if they are allowed to relax to equilibrium, i.e., that given by
magnetization within ferromagnetic domains. (12),and where is thevolumefractionofclosuredomains.
200 IEEE TRANSACTIONS
JUNE ON MAGNETICS, 1974

Assuming the actual lattice strains in the closure domains to be Whether or not this structure occurs also depends on whether
90°walls can be introduced without causing significant increases
€11 = A100
inEhT due toan inability of the domains t o relax to the strains
associated with U. For the case shown in Fig. 3(b), strain re-
€22 = - -
h1oo
2 laxation was not possible. This is generally not the case, how-
ever, and many structures containing 90°walls can completely
A100 relax t o equilibrium [6]. Structures such as thoseshown in
€33 = - -y-
L
Fig. 3(d) are often observed and sensitivity of the domain struc-
j+&j(i,j = 1,2,3) = 0 <
ture to residual stresses of 100 lb/in2is common.
Fig. 2 can be used to illustrate another important magneto-
which are the equilibrium lattice strains of the main domains, static effect. Thiscase assumesthat the saturated3%Si-Fe sheet
(15) becomes (az = 1;o1 = a3 = 0) has a (110) sheet plane and thus domain structures such as ob-
9 served in Figs. 3(b) and 3(c) cannot exist.In this case, ED can
&AT = 2 ( c 1 1 - C I Z )h?oo a2 (16a) be reduced by subdivision of the domain structure into a sys-
tem of antiparallel 180°walls, such that LU, is reduced t o zero
This energy (1.lo3 ergs/cc per closure domain) is obviously a on a macroscopic scale, i.e., on a scale much larger than the
large energy term in comparisonto any other,since E D , Ek 'L 0 domainspacing.Onamicroscopic scale, that is, ona scale
and E , < 1 erg/ccforthedimensionsshown inFig. 3(b). approachingthedimensionsofthedomainsthemselves,the
Hubert [ 6 ] has pointed out, however, that a lower energy magnetostatic energy will be a function of the domain spac-
can be achieved if the entire sample is homogeneously strained ing 2L.
with the volume weighted average of the equilibrium strains of For the case shown in Fig. 2 , the total energy ET is equal to
the closure and main domains rather than with the quilibrium the sum of the wall energy and magnetostatic energy [ 11, or
strain of the main domains. In thiscase &AT becomes
ET'ED + E ,
9
&AT = 4 (c11 - c 1 2 ) h:oo (16b)
ET =
1.7 I,' ( 2 L ) y
+ -2L
1 .
which is different from (16a) since a1,'the volume fraction of
<
main domains, is 1. Hubert has also considered the possibility The equilibrium wall spacing can be calculated by differentiat-
of additional relaxation beyond the homogeneously strained ing ET with respect t o 2L and setting the derivative equal to
state and found that very little relaxation is possible. In any zero, or
case, AE AT is proportional to a2, and therefore AEAT can be
reduced simply by reducing the volume of closure domains.
For this reason structures such as Fig. 3(c) are more often ob-
served than the structure of Fig. 3(b). In addition, other more Substitutingvalues for3%Si-Fe into (19) andusing 2 = 5.08 cm
subtle changes in the closure domain structure are often caused ( 2 in),
by magnetoelastic forces. These will be considered during the
discussion of observed domain structures. ( 2 ~= )1.23 ~ x~ cm (20)
Fig. 3(d) shows another domain structure which might exist
or 0.04 times the sheet thicknessd where d is typically0.3 mm.
in a 3% Si-Fesamplewitha (100) sheet plane. In this case, The total energy in this case E T is approximately 2 X lo3 ergs/cc
AI,,E D , and Ek are zero as in Figs. 3(a)-(c); however, E , and which is 1 t o 2 orders of magnitude less than with no domain
EAT are larger.If residual stresses are present, it may be possible
walls (Fig. l(a)). This structure still has a much higher energy
for both transverse domains and main domains, i.e., domains
than the structure shown in Fig. 3(a)-3(c) andis, in fact, never
along + [ O I O ] and k[OO1] directions,respectively, t o achieve
observed in 3%Si-Fe, even when the sheet plane is (110), since
strains nearer magnetoelastic equilibrium by aligning with di-
complex flux closure structures similar in nature but quite dif-
rections of minimumEA,,.
ferent in appearance form at the ends of the sample and very
According to (14a), the change in E k o withincreasing u
effectively reduce ED with little expenditure of E , and EA.
dEk,,/do is given in 3%Si-Fe by
Such a structure is shown in Fig. 3(e). In this case, the closure
3 domains at the endsof the sample lie parallel to easy directions
dEhU = - - hloo = -2.4ergs/cc/lb/inz perpendicular to the [ O O I ] andarenotdirectlyobservable,
do 2
although a closure domainstructuLe forms on the surface which
Thus the magnetoelastic energy of domains oriented perpen- can be identified with their presence [ 6 ] .
dicular t o tensile stresses in 3% Si-Fe increases by 2.4 ergs/cc Let us now consider the saturated sample shown in Fig. l(b).
for every 1.0 lb/in2 of stress present making the orientation of In this sample a large magnetostatic energy has been produced
domains in this material very stress sensitive. For instance, if a at the top and bottom surfaces and at the ends of the sample.
domainin Fig. 3(c) is orientedperpendiculartoaresidual This situation is commonly encountered in (110)[ 0011 grain-
tensilestressof 100lb/in2,amagnetoelasticenergy EA,, of oriented 3% Si-Fe where the [OOl] is tilted out of the sheet
1.250 ergs/cc would exist. This is a t least 200 times larger than surface. Several different domain structures might be expected
thedifferencein wallenergybetweenFig. 3(c)and 3(d). in this sample, depending on the crystal orientation and the
AND SHILLING 3% Si-Fe 201

crystal anisotropy. If the crystal anisotropy is low, the mag- domains with comparatively little expenditure of wall energy,
netization can be expected to rotate down into the plane of magnetoelastic energy, and anisotropy energy (< 103erg/cc).
the sheet and form a flux-closed structure similar to that shown Nevertheless, many domain structures exist with approximately
in Fig. 3(a). If the crystal anisotropy is large, however, and if the same magnetostatic energy, and thus domain structures are
the only easy direction of magnetization near the sheet plane is often only metastable and extremely structure sensitive, e.g.,
tilted out of the sheet plane as shown in Fig. l ( b ) , then rotation sensitivity of magnetic properties in 3% Si-Fe t o residual or
of the magnetization down into the plane of the sheetwill cause applied stresses of % 100 lb/in2is common.
an increase in the anisotropy energy Ek which is proportional
to the square of the rotation angle 0 (cf. (2)). In (110) [ 0011 Energy in an Applied Field
grain-oriented 3% Si-Fe, a rotation of 4Owould increase Ek by
Soft magnetic materials, such as 3% Si-Fe, derive their use-
% 2500 erg/cc whereas a rotation of lowould increase Ek by
fulness from the manner in which domain structure changes
Only 140 Thus rotations (< loto20) during so
magnetization. far we have only considered the de-
Occur in 3% Si-Fe even though ‘s large (the p* effect) [*] * velopment of domain structurein the demagnetized state. we
One mightalsoexpectasubdivisioninto small domains as
will now consider the movement of domain walls under the
shown in Fig. 2. This structure would compensate both surface action of an applied field.
and edge demagnetizing fields since domains intersect both the
sheet surfaces and the ends of the sample. However, what most
A
3i
f l L;
often occurs in (110) [OOl] grain-oriented 3% Si-Fe is the for-
mation of flux closure structure which effectively compensates
the surface magnetostatic energy with the least expenditure of
E kE, A T , and E,. These flux
closure
structures will be
con-
sidered in detail in the section, “Observed Domain Structures.’’
The formation of fluclosure structures obeys a very fun&- Fig. 4. Motionofisolated180”domainwallinferromagneticsheet
under action of applied field.
mental principal first discussed by Niel [ 9 ] and Becker and
Doring [ 101. This principal states that in materials with large
cubic anisotropy (KI ), domains are partitioned among the six In materialssuch as-3% Si-Fe,magnetizationoccursbythe
easy directions of magnetization such that the net magnetization motion of 180°and 9ooWa1ls the net force on all walls is
Tis always parallel to the applied field. The net magnetization f zero. The net force F~ acting on a domain wall movingnormal
is defined to be the volume weighted vector sumof the domain to its plane, i.e., along the x axis ( ~ i41, , given by
~ is
magnetizations. This constraint on the domain structure allows
the magnetostatic energy to be reduced to zero on a macro- -aET
F x = - -0; (21)
scopic scale at all surfaces which contain the applied field di- ax
rection, since the normal component of magnetization at these
where -aET/ax is the gradient of the total energy of a domain
surfacesisthenzero.Inthiscontext,macroscopicrefers to
wall with respect to the position x of the domain wall in the
dimensionslargerthanthedomain spacing.Microscopicde-
crystaland is a dissipativeforce proprotionaltothe mag-
magnetizing fields, i.e., those occurring on a scale approximat-
netic field created by the flow of eddy currents around the
ing the size of the domains themselves, are not considered by
moving domainwall. Although in magnetic materialsas a whole
thismodel.Themacroscopicmagnetostaticenergyofstruc-
there are dissipative forces in addition to those caused by eddy
tures which obey this principal will be controlled only by the
currents, the eddy current drag is by far the most important
demagnetizingcoefficient ND of the sample along the direction
during magnetization of 3% Si-Fe at 60 Hz [ 111. In general,
of the applied field accordingto (1). If the length of the sample
ET is given by
is long in this direction, which is almost always the case, e.g.,
the Epstein frame, ring core, etc.,No % 0 and the total macro-
ET=EH+Eg+Ek+EAT+EhofEw (22)
scopic magnetostatic energy will be nearly zero. Thus instead
of the magnetization rotating down into the planeof the sheet
where EH is the mutual energyof a domain of magnetizationI,
in Fig. domainsin 3% Si-Feare introducedalongthe in the presence o f a n appliedmagneticfieldHa+ and is given by
*[ 1001 and *[O1O] directions such that the volume weighted
-+-+
vector
sum of domain
the magnetizations is parallel the
to EH = - Ha * Is. (23)
surface. This construction reduces the component of magneti-
zation normal to the sheet Surfaces to zero on a macroscopic If one considers an isolated 180°domain wall in an infinitely
scale. Although not considered by the original treatments, the long 3% Si-Fe crystal with a (110) plane orientation (Fig. 4),
microscopic magnetostatic energy is reduced in 3% Si-Fe by magnetostatic energies can be neglected and in the absence of
the refinement (cf. (19)) of the domain structures which reduceimpurities, crystal defects and residual stress, +
the only forces
the macroscopic magnetostatic energy to zero. on the domain wall in an applied field Ha are given by
over-riding
the
Thus driving
force for d m a i n creation
in -aEH
3%Si-Fe
clearly
is the
reduction of magnetostatic
energywhich Fx = -
ax
-0180;
in the absenceof domains has been shown to exceed IO5erg/cc.
This
energy
can
be
reduced t o near
zero
by
the
introduction
of F , = +2HaZ, - 0180;
202 TRANSACTIONS IEEE JUNE ON MAGNETICS, 1974

where F , is the force per unit area of domain wall. Thus the
wall, it is convenient t o separate E H from E T , defining the dif-
force is independent ofx and the wall should accelerate accord-
ference between ET and E H , i.e.,ET - E H , as E R . The gradient
ing to the equation of E R acts as aretardingforce, F R , to wall motion and in
Fig. 5, a plot of a E R / a x or F R , vs x is shown assuming an
m$ = 2HaI, - 0;
(25) arbitrary dependence of E R on x . According to this figure, if a
where m is the massof the domain wall.Since the massof a180'domainwallwereinitially at position a, n o appreciable
180Odomain wall in iron [ 11 is only %lo-" g/cm2, m; % 0 movement would occur until 2HaZ, exceeded aER /ax (point b )
during 60 Hz magnetization
and
(25)reducesto
whereupon
the wall would moverapidly to position c with
a
mobility equal to 1 / P l W , and a velocity varying with position
(26) according to the equation
and the velocity can be stated in terms of an intrinsic mobility
MISO driving
and
a force
per
unit
area Fx or V(X) = A41800 F ( x ) = M 1 8 o o
?
1
2H,Zs - aER ( x )
___
ax
1.
I
(31)

An equation for the velocity of either a 18O'or 9O'domain

wallin 3% Si-Fe can be obtained as a generalization of (31) and
is given by

Williams, Shockley, and Kittel 1121 have shown that in the case
of an isolated 180'domain wall moving in a crystal of thickness
d and width w (Fig. 4), PlsO is given by where Mis the mobility which is different for 90°and 180°wall
motion; a is equal to 2 for 180'wal~ motion and 1 for 9O0wall
+
motion; I, is the magnetization of the domain closest t o Ha at
a given wall; and a E R / d x , is the gradient in total energy along
The series is rapidly converging and as wld increases the value the wall normal. The retarding effects of aER /ax, can be con-
of the series remains fairly constant, varying from 1.0 to 1.1 as sidered as aninternaldemagnetizingfieldand(32)can be
w / d goes from 1 to 00. For values of w/d significantly less than simply written as
-
1, which are rarely encountered experimentally, the
the series approaches 2w/d.
value of + +
v = MaHl Z, - (33)
Thusinmost cases w/d >1, and(28) reduces to where AI is theinternalfieldactingonthedomain wall which
goes to zero when the term in brackets in (32) goes to zero.
16Bs2d
(dyne/cm2 ) velocity
Since
individual
theof domain walls is controlled
PI80 =-
n3p c2
3
(cm/sec) (29) by spatial
thevariation
of E R according t o (31)-(33),both
microscopic and macroscopic variations in E X must be con-
Inthe Case ofa 3% Si-Felamination0.3mmthick, PISO is sidered. defined above, microscopic is meant to apply to
137 (dYne/cm2)/(cm/sec) andMlsOo is therefore given by dimensions less thanthedomainspacingand- on theorderof
n3p c 2 (cm/sec) the thickness of the domain wall, whereas macroscopic refers
MIS00 ZZ ___ = 7.3 x . (30) t o dimensions larger than the domain spacing. Thus variations
16BS2d (dynelcrn')
'of a E R / a x shown in Fig. 5 must be considered on scales from
Thus in the absence of energy considerations other than E H , the Angstroms t o millimeters. In the case of large amplitude 180'
velocity of a domainwall is controlled entirely byMlsoo which domain wall motion, e.g., the cyclic magnetization of 3% Si-Fe
is increased if the sheet thicknessis reduced or if the resistivity at 15 kG,the wall velocity is essentiallycontrolledbythe
is increased. macroscopic variation ofE R . In this case, microscopicvariations
Inmostmaterials,however,energiesotherthan E H con- in E R lead to jerky oruneven wall motion. This resultsin an in-
tribute to E T , and therefore the forceo n a 180'domain wall is crease in both hysteresis and eddy currentlosses which will be
not given simply by (24). In order to discuss the net force on a discussed later. Duringsmall amplitudewall motion, i.e., during
the measurement of initial permeability or during magnetization
r in the Rayleighregion,microscopicvariationsin
the wall velocity and thus the magnetic properties.
E R control

Microscopic variation of E R results from four main causes

[ 11: (1) gradients in wall energy, (2) gradients in wall area,
(3) gradients in magnetostatic energy, and (4) interactions of
closure domains and 180°walls. These effects canbe eliminated
(except (4)) by removal or interstitials, inclusions, dislocations,
ax b e and other defects.
Macroscopic variations of E R result from variations of E D ,
EA?', EA,,, and E,. These variations are dependent on material
Fig. 5. Typical dependence ofretarding force aliRlax on wall position u. constants (K1, h l a ~hill
, ), texture, grain size, sample geometry,
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 2 03

vantage of being able to follow rapid domain wall motion, but

There are several techniques available for observing magnetic
samplepreparation is difficult,andextremelyintenselight
domains. These include the Bitter technique [ 131, magneto-
sources are required because both the Kerr and Faraday rota-
opticalKerr [ 141 and Faraday [ 151 effects, Lorentz micro-
tions are small and the net effect is that of viewing the sample
.
scopy [16], and X-ray topogaphy [ 171 Theessentialele-
through nearly crossed polarizing elements. Since applications
ments, advantages, and limitations of each technique are dis-
of the Kerr effecthave been most fruitful in the past few years,
cussed briefly below.
the techniquewill be discussed in detail in a subsequent section
of this paper.
Bitter Technique
Lorentz Microscopy
A small stray field exists wherever a domain wall intersects
the sample surface. If a drop of a colloidal ‘dispersion of mag- Under certain conditions, the domain structure of thin foils
netic iron oxide is placed on the surface of a magnetic material, and films of ferromagnetic materials can be seen in the trans-
the colloid will be attracted by the stray fields and thus outline mission electron mjcroscope. It requires that the microscope
204
be focused on a plane slightly below the plane of the sample
and that the sample be shielded from the lens field (which in
most cases would be sufficientto saturate the foil) or that these
fields be compensated. Although domains can sometimes be
seen with an unmodified microscope, a specially designed ob-
Fig. 7. (a) CornpositcKerrcffectphotograph of domain structure
(llO)[OOl] oriented silicon steel. (%5X). (b) Domains observed
Er-GagarnetusingFaradayeffect. ( 2 4 5 X ) . (Courtesy of T.
Oeffinger, Westinghouse Electric Corp.). (c) Lorentz micrograph
the domain structure in a 3% Si-Fe foil. ( 5 0 0 0 X ) .
Unpolarized Light
Polarizer
Fig. 8. Longitudinal Kerreffcct in (110)[001] 30/0Si-Fe. ( a ) Schematic. (b) Apparatus showing light
source o n left and high speed camera on right.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE 1974
jectivelensandstageare generallynecessary to make useful
observations. Lorentz microscopy provides a means of observ-
ing fine scale domain phenomena and can be used to follow
dynamic effects, but it is limited to electron transparent foils
which as a rule do not exhibit the same types of domain walls
andstructures as bulk samples. Anexample of thedomain
structure observed using this technique in a 3% Si-Fe sample is
shown in F i g 7(c).
X-Ray Topography
The dynamical theory of diffraction predicts that when a
nearly perfect crystal is in a diffracting position relative to the
incident X-ray beam there are very strong forward diffracted
beams (anomalous transmission). Any distortion of the precise
periodicity of the crystal lattice, such as would occur within a
domain wall, extinguishes the forward diffracted beam in that
region of the crystal. Therefore, the domain structure is revealed
in an X-ray topograph of the exit surface of the crystal. This
technique reveals internal domain structure in crystals up to
100 Pm thick, but, since very long exposure times arere-
quired, it is only suitable for studying static structures.
Kerr Effect Technique
Since the Kerr cffect is the most generally useful technique
for domain studies of bulk materials, and i t was used for most
of the observations discussed in this paper, a detailed presenta-
tion of sample preparation and apparatus is included.
A comprehensive analysis of the physics of the Kerr effect
and severalpossibledesigns of Kerr effect microscopcs were
in published by Kranz and Hubert [ 191. Since the domain struc-
in tures encounteredin most soft magnetic materials arerelatively
R.
of
-
\
\
\
\
%\
'\
\
\
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 205

coarse, a low magnification (< I O O X ) instrument is sufficient e.g., 60 Hz observations require 6000 frames per second.While
for their examination. Such an instrument is shown schematic-this framing rate is well within the range of modern high speed
ally in Fig. 8(a) and actually inFig. 8(b). It is essentially a low motion picture cameras, a very intense light source must be
power polarizing microscope with the incident and reflected synchronizedwiththecamera toobtainadequateexposure.
light paths inclined at an angle of about 30"to the sample sur- The most satisfactory light ,source found to date has been a
face. The components on the incident side are a light source, stroboscopicallypulsedlaser.3Synchronizationofthelaser
condenser lens, collimator, and polarizing prism. On the reflec- with the camera is accomplished with a magnetic pickup po-
tion side, there is an analyzing prism, objective lens, and eye- sitioned near the sprocket wheel of the camera. It should be
piece. The sample stage contains a yoke system to magnetize noted that synchronizing the light source with the frequency
the sample and pickup coils suitable for determining the applied of the sample exciting field; Le., strobing the field, is not a
field H and the induced magnetizationB in the sample. useful technique because in most cases the domain structure
The most critical factor for obtaining high quality observa- varies slightly from cycle t o cycle and the image obtained in
tions of domain structures with the Kerr effect is sample-prep- this manner is blurred.
.
aration [20] The sample must be specularly polished, strain High speedmotionpicturesareexaminedon a frame-by-
free, and flat. Since the sample is usually in the form of thin frame basis t o analyze the domain wall motion. The character
strip, approximately 1 in wide and from 3 t o 1 2 in long, ac- of the motion; i.e., continuous or intermittent, domain wall
complishing this requires some effort. A recommended practice velocities, and surface magnetization are all obtained by meas-
is as follows: urement of wall positions in successive frames. Qualitative ob-
servations are made simply by projecting the films at normal
1. Stress relieve and heat flatten, 800°C for 2 h in an inert
rates.
atmosphere.
2. Mountsamplewithwaxonaflatsteelblockslightly
larger than the sample and about 1 / 2 in thick. 4. OBSERVED DOMAIN STRUCTURE
3. Grind, lap, and polish sample to produce a flat, metallog-
A review of the domain structures observed in several dif-
raphically polished sample (electropolishing is generally
ferent materials is presentedbelow.Thematerials to be dis-
unsatisfactory because it produces a wavy surface).
cussed are (1lo)[ 0011 grain-oriented 3% Si-Fe and (100)[ 0011
4. Repeat the stress relief anneal. grain-oriented 3% Si-Fe.
At this point, the domain structure should be visible when the
sample is viewed through a properly adjustedKert: effect micro-
( 1 l O ) [ O O l ] Grain-Oriented 3% Si-Fe
scope.However,thecontrast of theimage can beimproved
greatlybyvapordepositinga h/4 dielectriccoatingon the Orientation Effects. Early work by Paxton and Nilan [23]
surface. This has the effect of slightly increasing the Kerr effect using the Bitter Technique revealed an increase in surface clos-
rotation and suppressing unrotated specular reflections. Zinc ure domain density with an increase in tilt 0 of the [ O O l ] out
sulfide is a satisfactory coating material, and the effect of the of the' sheet plane, i.e.,'rotation about the [?lo].In order to
coatingoncontrast is demonstratedin Figs. 9(a) and 9(b).

Fig. 9. Domainstructurein (100)[001] oricntedsiliconsteel,before

(a)andafter (b) applying hi4 ZnS coatingforcontrastimprove-
ment. (-2X).

Initial attempts to photograph domain structures with the

Kerr effect were..hindered by lack of contrast [ 2 1 ] , [ 2 2 ] and
relativelyslowfilmspeeds. The application of the dielectric
coating solves the former problem and high speedemulsions
the latter. For visual observations of static and low frequency
effects and still photography, a bright constant burning light
Fig. 10. Domainstructureindemagnetized 3% Si-Fesinglecrystals.
source suchas a carbon arc or zirconium arc lamp is satisfactory. (2.5X). (a) 0 = 0", W z = 0", (b) 0 = 2 " , W 2 s 4%, (c) e = 4", nzs 876,
In order to observedomainwallbehavior at reversal fre- (d) 8 = 8", W, = 15%.
quenciesaboveafewHz,it is necessary to usehighspeed
cinematography. As a rule, the framing rate s h o u u be approxi- 31t is extremely hazardous to attempt direct viewing of the image
matelytwoordersofmagnitudegreaterthanthefrequency; when a laser light source is used.
206 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE1974

the applied field. Inaddition,thisstructureprovidesa very

direct flux return path between regions of opposite magneto-
static charge. The requirements that the net flux remain parallel
tosheet surfacesrequiresanincreasein n2, the transverse

domain volume, with increasing 8. The vaIues for i 1 2 obtained

by Hubert (261 in samples with orientations similar to those
shown in Fig. 1 0 havebeenincludedin Fig. 1 0 in order to
emphasize the three dimensional nature of the domain struc-
b)
ture. Craik [32] has shown that the structure in Figs. 1O(b) and
e=P 1 2 has a low magnetostatic energy; however, in hisanalysis
Fig. 11. ' Domain structure in demagnetized 3% Si-Fe singlecrystals. neither themagnetoelastic energy nor the wallenergy were
(%40X). rigorously taken into account.
When 8 = 4'(Fig. lO(c)),lancetsareobserved to align in
rows. This structure has been termed an aligned lancet comb
structure.Althoughmagnetoelasticand wall energies o f the
structure have not been analyzed in detail, due to their obvious
complexities, magnetostriction measurements have confirmed,
as suggested by Graham 1331 , that this structure is not merely
a surface structure but consists of significant
a amount of trans-
verse domain structure as in the case of the simple lancet struc-
Fig. 12. Lancet structure as it has been proposed to exist through sheet ture. In the alignedlancetcombstructure, it appears that
thickness [ 6 ] , [ 2 5 ] . groups of lancets align inrowsinorder to usea common
transverse domain.Inthis case i l z % 8%. Thesymmetry of
the structure, i.e., the tendency for rows to form along<111>
illustrate the findings of Paxton and Nilan, the domain struc-
directions, is very similar to the symmetry of sawtooth and
tures in several single crystals are shown in Figs. 10(a)-lO(d) as
band structure which have been rigorously analyzed and shown
a function of misorientation, 8. In these figures, domains have
to result from a minimization of magnetoelastic and wall en-
beenrevealedusing the Kerreffectandareshownafterde-
ergies [ 6 ] . These structures will be considered in more detail
magnetizing in a 60 Hz field. The domain structures for 0 = 2"
later.When 0 = 8'(Fig. 10(d)), a very finely spaced aligned
and 4Oare shown at a higher magnification in Fig. 11. These
lancet comb structure is observed in accord with Rule 2, and
figures illustrate that increasing amountsof surface flux ciosure
i l 2 is larger ( 2 . 15%).
structureappearwithincreasingvalues of 0 asrequiredby
In order to discuss the domain structure in 3% Si-Fe during
Rules 1-2.
magnetization, it has been found convenient to separate the
When 0 = Oo(Fig. lO(a)), only a simple 18Oowall structure is
domain structure -of a sample into two components, main do-
observed. Domain observations of both sides of samples where
main structure and suppZernentary structure [ 61. Main domain
0 = 0"have shown that 180°walls often lie on (100) planes and
structure refers to the large flux carrying slab domains which
are thus not normalto the sheet surface. Graham [24] has con-
aremost easily seenin Fig. 10(a). Supplementarystructure
sidered the total wall energy as a function of wall orientation
and has found a shallow minimum for an orientation between
(100) and (110).The behavior is not obvious since even though
the wall energy density of (100) walls is lower than (1IO) walls
(Table 111),the area of a (110) wall in this material is less than
the area of a (100) wall by I/fl.
When 8 = 2"jFig. lO(b)), a lancet structure is observed on
thesheetsurface.StudiesbyDragonski [ 251, Hubert [6],
1261-1291, and Schlenker [30],[31] have shown that this struc-
ture is not merely a surface structure. Instead, one finds by
domainobservationsonboth sidesof the sample,magneto-
striction measurements, and X-ray topography that lancets on
opposite sides of the sample are connected through the sample
thickness by a transverse d ~ m a i n The . ~ structure as it has been
proposed to exist through the sheet thickness is shown in Fig.
12. This structure, or onesimilar to it,is expected if the macro-
scopic demagnetizing fields are t o be avoided by a vector addi-
tion of domains such that the net magnetization is parallel t o

'In this context, transverse domain refers to any domain along an

easy direction transverse to the [ O O l ] direction which is assumed t o be Fig. 13. Domain structure in 3% Si-Fe single crystals magnetized to dc
the closest, easy direction to the applied field. induction of 7.5 kG.( S 5 X ) . (a) '6 = O", ( b j 8 = 2",(c) 8 = 4", (d) 0 = 8".
 HOUZE: SHILLING AND
RIENTED 3% Si-Fe 207

refers totheremainingstructurewhichflux closes thecrystal seriesoftransverse domains.Thisstructureoftenoccursin

boundaries.In Fig. 13, thedomainstructureinthesame ordertoreducethemagnetostaticenergyon edges or grain
crystals shown in Fig. 1 0 is shown during dc magnetization t o boundaries which arc approximately parallel to the direction
a relatively low induction (7.5 kG). During magnetization t o of the applied field [ 3 5 ] . By considering both the magneto-
this induction, the walls separating main domains move with elastic and wall energy of this structure, Hubert has been able
littlechangeinthesupplementarystructureexceptinthe to predict the angle rl, (Fig. 14) and the spacing of the struc-
vicinity of the moving wall separating the main domains. Mo- ture D which is generally 1.5 times the sheet thickness 161. The
tionofthe walls separatingthemaindomainsproducesthe total energy of the structure appears to be approximately 300
measured changes in sample induction. The existence of a main ergs/cc of which about 1/2 is wall energy and 1/2 is magneto-
and supplementary domain structureis evident if one compares elastic energy E A T . This energy is relatively low compared to
thedomainstructuresin Figs.1O(c) and10(d)withthose the magnetostatic energy which would result if the net mag-
shown in Figs. 13(c) and 13(d). In the demagnetized state, a netizationwerenotparalleltothecrystalboundaries.Shur
large black and grey main domain structure appears superim- [ 3 6 ] - [ 3 8 ]has also shown that the amount of band structure
posed on an aligned comb supplementary structure. The walls in single crystalsincreaseswithincreasingmisorientation @,
separating the main domains are generally irregular for8 3 2', where @ is the angle between the component of the [OOl] in
and the character of the wall is not well understood. It cannot the plane of the sheet and the rolling direction. This structure
be a simple 18O0wal1 sinceit must accommodate the transverse is merely one of many kinds of supplementary structure which
domains associated with the supplementary structure. Using a form in order to keep the normal component of magnetization
magnetooptic B-H loop tracer, Passon [34] has been able to across boundaries approximately zero on a macroscopic scale.
plot the surface induction of samples as a function of bulk in- I t is important to remember that supplementary structure is
ductionduringmagnetization.Hehasfoundthatverylittle formed by transverse domains which are flux closed at the sheet
change insurfaceinductionoccursduringmagnetizationin surface in a d i n e structure (Fig. 12) [ 2 7 ] . Since thc transverse
sampleswhere 0 = 4.5". This result clearly demonstrates the domains are inclined at an angle of 45"to the sheet surface,
ability of a sample to magnetize by rearrangements of the main they carry a component of flux normal to the top and bottom
domain structure with little change in the supplementary struc-sheet surfaces as well as normal to the sheet edges. Thus the
ture. same supplementary structure can effectively flux close both
the sheet surface and grain boundaries or edges. In Fig. 14(d),
the aligned lancet combs can be observed t o oscillate between
two symmetries indicating that only sheet surfaces are being
flux closed. Were one symmetry to predpminate, both sheet
surfaces and grain boundaries could be flux closed.
The principal that the net flux must always be parallel to
the applied field (which is assumed parallel to an infinely long
dimension of the sample) thus causes the following features t o
appear in the main and supplementary structure. If the main
structures carry a component of flux normal to any surface,
supplementarystructuresareintroducedwhichtransmitan
equal but oppositely directed component of flux away from
the crystal surface and toward a region of opposite magneto-
staticcharge. In highlyoriented(110)[001] 3% Si-Fe, the
volumepercentofsupplementarystructureissmall (e.g.,
15% Fig. IO(d)) since the main domains are nearly parallel to
or continu~ous across all boundaries. In nonoriented 3% Si-Fe,
on the other hand, S& willbeverylarge and differentiation
betweenmainandsupplementarystructureisnotpossible.
Fig. 14. Domain structure in 3% Si-Fe single crystals magnetized to dc
3,
-induction of 17 kG. ( x 5 X ) . ( a ) e = (b) 0 = 2,' (c) 0 = 4",
(d) 8 = 8'.

Duringmagnetization of these same samplest o higher induc-

tions (17 kG, Fig. 14), further movement of walls separating
main domains occurs; however, significant changes often occur
\in the supplementary structure. These changes in supplemen-
tary structure occur in order to flux close crystal boundaries
where magnetostatic free poles have been produced by move-
mentofthe walls separatingmain domain:. Thestructure
shown inFig. 14(a) is termed "band" structure [ 6 ] since the
flux is carried as a folded strip or band across the sample by a Fig. 15. Aligned lancet combs in vicinity of includcdgrain [35]
208 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE 1974

In Fig. 15, the domain structure is shown in the vicinity of ences in induction often occur from grain to grain during mag-
an included grain in a sample where d = 4’ [35]. The interpre- netization, as one might expect from looking atFig. 16, due to
tation of this structure is that flux is being carried around the grain-to-graindifferencesin and/or @,where @ isIthe angle
includedgrainbythesupplementarystructurewhichwas betweentherollingdirectionandthein-planeprojection of
originallyformed t o reduce ED atthesheet surfaces.This the [ O O l ] for a given grain.
illustrates the ability of supplementary structure to flux close. Thickness effects. Since the supplementary structure con-
both sheet surfaces and grain boundaries. 1n cases where 0 = 0” sists ofalargeamountoftransversedomainstructure,one
and @ # O”, often no supplementary structure exists in the de- might expect a dependence of the supplementary structure on
magnetized state; however, during magnetization this structure thesheetthickness.Althoughthishasnotbeenthoroughly
must be introduced as occuredinFig.14(a).Ontheother studied, Hubert [ 6 ] has defined a characteristic thickness do
hand, in grains where 6 > Oo, adequate compensation of the which is given by
magnetostatic energy a t grain boundaries and sheet edges can
occur simply by rearrangements of the supplementary structure. do = 20‘AK)1n = 0.25 mm,
(3%Si-Fe).
(34)
(C11 - ClZ)

For thicknessesabove do, magnetoelasticenergydominates

and structures resembling a chessboard are often observed in
place of band or sawtooth structure. For thicknesses< d o , wall
energy dominates and a “columnar” structure is observed. For
d % do, which is the case in ordinary transformer laminations,
band structure or sawtooth structure is observed. Photographs
of these structures are shown in Fig. 17.

Fig. 16. Domainstructurcin (110)[001] grainoriented 3% Si-Fe during

magnetization. (a) Demagnetized. (b) 15 kG.

In Fig. 16(a),thedomainstructure is shownin a poly- Fig. 17. Domain structures observed in (llO)[OOl] grain oriented 3%
Si-Fe at different sheet thickness [ Z S ] . (a) “Chessboard” structure,
crystalline sample of commercial grain oriented 3% Si-Fe. Grains d = 0.8 rnm. (b) “Columnar” structure,d = 0.06 mm.
are easily identified by their different supplementary structures
resulting from different values of 6 as shown in Fig. 10. Mag-
netization of such a sample t o 1 5 kG (Fig. 16(b)) results in Stress effects. The behavior of domain structure in (110)
motion of walls separating main domains as well as rearrange- [OOl] 3% Si-Fe underappliedstresshasbeenextensively
ments of supplementary structure. Another feature of the do- studied [ 391 -[44] . These investigations have shown that appli-
mainstructureinpolycrystallinesamples,whichhasbeen cation of tensile stress parallel to the rolling direction removes
treated by Graham [33], is that the walls separating main do- supplementary structure and simultaneously refines the main
mains run continuously down the sample. Thus magnetization domain wall spacing. On the other hand, compressive stresses
occurs by the motion of main domain walls which are common parallel to the rolling direction have been shown to increase
t o all of the grains. Studies have revealed, however, that differ- the amount of supplementary structure. The domain structures
AND SHILLING HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3%Si-Fe 209

Fig. 19. Reappearance of supplementary structure duringmagnetization

under applied stress of 2000 Ib/in2 [42] ( % l o x ) . (a) Demagnetized.
(b) 12 kG.

Fig. 20. Domainspacinginfine(a)andcoarse (b) ( 1 1 0 ) [ 0 0 1 ] grain

oriented silicon steel. (%2X).

the easy direction in each grain, and since the boundary bears
Fig. 18. Domainstructureindemagnetizedsamples o f ( 1 1 0 ) [ 0 0 1 ] grain no specid angular relationship to the [ O O l ] directions of the
oriented 3% Si-Fe. (a) Unstressed,%2X. (b)2000 Ib/in2 tensile stress, two grains, the normal component of magnetization across the
% 2 X . (c) 1000 Ib/in2 compressive stress, % 3 X .
boundary is generally discontinuous. The magnitude of the dis-
continuity and its associated demagnetizing field depend not
only on the degree of misorientation between the grains but
in demagnetized samples of commercial (11O)[OO1] grain ori-
also on the local orientationof the grain boundary with respect
ented 3% Si-Fe are shown in Fig. 18 in the unstressed state,
to the two [ 0011 directions. In general, the boundary does not
and after application of tensile and compressive stresses. The
bisect the angle made by the [ O O l ] directions. As a rule, the
effects of stress are easily understood based on the fact that
grain-to-grain misorientationin (I IO)[OOI] orientedsilicon
supplementary structure consists mainly of transverse domains.
steel increases as the grain size decreases, and the probability
According to (14a), the magnetoelastic energy of a transverse
that a given segment of boundary will bisect or nearly bisect
domain increases if atensilestress is applied parallel to the
the [OOl]directions decreases as the grain size decreases. There-
rolling direction and decreasesif a compressive stress is applied.
fore, largergrain boundary microdemagnetizing fields would
On the other hand, the magnetoelastic energy of the main do-
be expected in small grained material, and these are minimized
mains does just the opposite. Therefore, based only on magneto-
by reduction a of the main domain spacing. The effect of the
elastic energy, one would expect supplementary structure to
boundary demagnetizing field is manifest in the variation of
disappearundertensilestressandbeintroducedinto grains
the main domain spacing at A in Fig. 21, and the spike do-
where 8 = OOunder compressive stress, as shown in Fig. 18 for
mains of reverse magnetization on the boundary at B in the
stress levelsof 1000 lb/in2.Since removal of the supplementary
same figure.
structure by stress increases the magnetostatic energy, a simul-
Frequency effects. When an alternating magnetic fieldis ap-
taneous refinement of the main domain wall spacing occurs in
plied to oriented silicon steel, the domain structure varies in
order t o reduce the magnetostatic energy according to (19).
ways which are not entirely predictable from the static struc-
During magnetization under tensile stress, it has been found,
tures and are extremely important to understanding the elec-
however, that the supplementary structure reappears virtually
trical engineering properties of this material. In particular, it is
unchanged from the unstressed state (Fig. 19) T[42]. ’ occurs
h 1s

at a point ( 2 ’ 10-15 kG) where movement of the 18O0wa1ls

separating main domains has increased the magnetostatic en-
ergy to the point where the sum of the magnetostatic energy
andmagnetoelasticenergy is reducedbytheformation of
supplementary structure.
Grain-size effects. In (110)[001] oriented silicon steel, there
is a marked dependence of the main domain wall spacing on
grainsize. As is illustratedin Figs. 20(a)-20(b),thedomain
’pacing increases with increasing grain size’ the do- Fig. 21. Illustration
of
effect
of
grain
boundary
directionality on
mains are continuous over the grain boundaries, they do follow domainwallspacingin (110)[001] oriented 3% Sisteel,5X.
210 MAGNETICS, ON IEEE TRANSACTIONS JUNE 1974

found that (1) the main domain spacing varies with the excita- variations in instantaneous domain wall velocities exist during
tionfrequency;[20],[45]-[47] ,[ 521 (2)themotionofdo-lowfrequencymagnetization;however, as thefrequencyis
main walls is notsmoothandcontinuous even inmacro-increased,theinstantaneousvelocitiesoftheindividual walls
scopically uniform and smoothly changing fields; [20] ,[45], tend to equalize andnew domains are nucleated [45],[47],[81].
[47] and (3) the wallsmay not remainplanarundercertain
circumstances [48] -[ 521
Domain
o.8, N;cleation Wall
Number o.8 1

0 ut 2n 0 ot 3r
(a) 0.1 Hz (c! 10 Hz

0.8 c 0.8 1

0 wt 2n 0 ut 2n
Ib) 1 Hz Id! 100Hz

Fig. 23. Domain wall positions X(cm) in (110)[00l] 3% Si-Feversus

Fig. 22. Illustration of effect of frequency on domain wall spacing in
(llO)[OOl] Si-Fe grain, conditions show (a) 30 Hz; (b) 120 Hz. Film
clips from high speed motion pictures [ 2 0 ] , (six).
normalized time, w t ( w t = 271 frequency time; time = 0 at the first
magnetized peak). Peak induction 15 kG. Wall positions at x = 0.74
cm were beyond the field o f view and have been arbitrarily plotted
asstraightlines.Magnetizingfrequency(Hz):(a) 0.1. (b) 1.0.(c)
10.0. (d)100.0.Atanyinstantoftimeblackandwhiteregions
represent widths of domains [47].

Thedomainspacingdependence on frequencyisdemon- In Fig. 23, plots of domain wall position as a function of

strated in Figs. 22(a) and 22(b), which are a series of stills from at are shown duringmagnetization at 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 Hz.
high speed motion pictures of 30 and 120 Hz excitation of In thisfigure, ut isessentiallynormalizedtimc (w = 27$
(110)[001] oriented siliconsteel. The refinement of domain t = time) and varies from 0 t o 27r during one cycle of magneti-
spacing with frequency is striking [20] . I t has been proposed zation. These data were obtained from a frame by frame an-
that the principle of minimum entropy production accounts alysis of 16 mm movies taken at successivelyhigherframing
for the refinement [46],[53] and thatit varies .sf-'? Another rates as themagnetizingfrequencywasincreased [47]. The
way of viewing the phenomenon is t o consider that domain domain structure photographedwas that occurring in onegrain
wall motion in silicon steel is eddy current limited (27) and as of a polycrystalline sample of commercial ( 1 1 O ) [ 0011grain
the excitation frequency increases the wall cannot move fast oriented 3% Si-Fe. The orientation of this grainwas within
enough t o keep the local fields ahead of the wall below the l o o f ( 1 1 0 ) [ 0 0 1 ] , i.e., both 0 and q5 were 0". In thisfigure,
level required t o nucleate a new domain [81]. This is a very the widths of the black and white domains are shown as a func-
important concept which will now be discussed in more detail. tion of at, and the wall position at a given time is just the lo-
From (31), the velocity of a 180°wallis proportional to the cation of the boundary separating the black and white regions.
+ +
difference between the applied force (2H, * I,) and the retard- As the frequencywas increased (Figs. 23(a)-23(c)),wall 4,which
ing force ( F R ~ aE, /ax).Thus if the velocity of a 180"wall was essentially stationary during 0.1 Hz magnetization, moved
is increased by increasing the magnetizing frequency, the ap- uniformly during magnetization a t 1 0Hz. In addition, the very
+
plied field Ha necessary t o move the wall over the same retard- discontinuous motion of walls 2 and 3 during 1.0 Hz magneti-
ing
forces,
andthus
to
thesamepeakamplitude,
must zationbecamesmootherduring 1 0 Hz magnetization. When
increase.This is just a restatement of the fact that it takes the frequency was increased t o 1 0 0 Hz (Fig. 23(d)), new do-
moreexciting
current t o magnetize
transformer
a to a mains were nucleated and the motion of already existing do-
given peakinduction
higher
at frequencies
than at main walls became smoother. These results clearly demonstrate
lower
frequencies
due
the
presence
to eddy
an
of thefactthat HI is afunctionofmagnetizingfrequency.
current retarding force proportional to the velocity of the do-
main walls. Consider now a system of 180"domain walls, one
of which is pinned during dc magnetization due to the presence
of a large value of F R x ,i.e., HI < 0 (33) for this wall during dc A
magnetization. If the frequency of magnetization is increased
t o 6 0 Hz, H , must increase, as discussed above, and may be-
come large enough to exceed F K at~ the pinned wall at which
point H I > 0 and the wall will move. New domains can also be
nucleated by this mechanism if H I increases to the point where Fig. 24. Wall bowingduringmagnetization of (110)[001] 3% Si-Fe.
theactivationenergyfornucleation is exceeded.Thuswide Center of wall lags behind wall segments ncar sheet surface[ 121.
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 211

In addition to increases in total mobile wall area with in-

creasingfrequency,askin-effectphenomenonhasbeenob-
served.Williams et a2.[12]interpretedtheirresults to mean
thatwhenthemagnetizingfrequency was sufficientlylarge,
the magnetization process in (100) single crystals was altered
from simple 18Oowall motion to one where the sample surface
magnetized ahead of the center by curving or bowing of the
domain wall about an axis parallel to the applied field (Fig. 24).
In this case, planar walls became bowed and eventuaUy formed Fig.26. Wall bowing during one-half cycle of magnetization as sug-
a cylindrical domain which collapsed toward its center of gestedbyLee [54]. Wall profile is shownafterintervalsof wt =
(n-6)n/12, where n = 0 , 6 , 9 , 1 2 .
curvature upon magnetization to saturation.

whicharelargestnearthecenterofthesheetandthus
retard the motion of the cknter more than the portions of the
wall near the
surface.
In
principal, these
eddy current
forces are opposed by surface energy forces which increase as
wall bowing occurs due .to an increase inwall area. As Graham
has shown [24], however, the total wall energy is nearly con-
stant as the wall orientation changes from (170) to (100) since
the increase in wall area is overcome by a decrease in energy
r.
density Thus it appears that wall bowing in (110) [ O O l ] grain
oriented 3% Si-Fe will occur almost unrestrained.
It is interesting to note that in many of the experiments
where wall bowing has been observed, little change in the num-
I i r l I I I I l l ber of walls has occdrred with increasing frequency. Thus it
2 4 6 8 10 1216 14 18 20
Bmeas, 1 kc)
appears that when wall bowing occurs, the driving force for
domain nucleation is reduced. This would be expected accord-
Fig. 25. Relationship between measured induction and induction cal-
culatedusingdomainspacing.(a)25Hz.(b)150 Hz. Dashedline ing to the principle of minimum entropy production if wall
represents case for no wall bowing [so]. bowinglowered eddy current losses, but more directly as a con-
sequence of a decrerise in HI due to a decrease in ~3 (or an in-
crease in M ) associated with wall bowing. I t is important to
Several more recent experiments [48]-[52] have indicated
note that the affect ofwall bowing on P has not been con-
that wall bowingmayoccurduring 60 Hzmagnetizationof
sidered rigorously although several authors have indicated that
commercial (110) [ 0011 grain oriented 3% Si-Fe. In these ex-
periments, the peak-to-peak displacements of 180°walls have
losses will be reduced, and thus p will be decreased and the
mobility increased, by wall bowing [ 121 ,[48] ,[ 551.
been measured at the surface of the samples during magneti-
zation at frequencies from dc td %200 Hz. The domains were
observedstroboscopicallyusingthelongitudinal Kerr effect. (1 OO)[OOl] Grain-Oriented 3% Si-Fe
The bulk induction of the sample was measured simultaneously The domain structure on surfaces near (lob) has been studied
and then compared to the induction calculated from themeas- by Williams et al.[56] using the Bitter technique. These studies
ured wall displacements, assuming the walls remain planar. In revealed the presence of “tree” patterns when the orientation
manycases,calculatedinductionsweresignificantlygreater deviated slightly from(100). This structurerevealed using X-ray
than measured inductions indicatihg that the surface was mag- topography is shown in Fig. 27. Because of the nature of the
netizing t o higher inductions than the sample as a whole. This selectivity mechanism governingthe developmentof (loo)[0011
could easily occur if wall bowing were present. In Fig. 25, the secondary recrystallization textures in 3% Si-Fe, most second-
calculated and measured inductions in a grain of (11O)[O01] ary grains have plane orientations very near (loo), i.e., within
grain oriented 3% Si-Feareshownduringmagnetization at
frequencies of 25 and 150 Hz. The bulk induction was de-
termined bydrillingholes on both sides of the grain and
measuring the inducedvoltage in a one turn search coil wrapped
around the grain [ 501.Substantial wall bowingoccured at
25 Hz and increased with increasing frequency. Lee [54] and
Bishop [ 551 have attempted to calculate domain wall profiles
during ac magnetization, and an exampleof their predictions is
shown in Fig. 26. Wall displacements near the surface are sub-
stantially larger than those near the center of the lamination
and the wall is bowed about an axis normal to the plane of the
Fig. 27. An ( 0 2 0 ) X-ray topograph[57] of a (lOO)[OOl] 3% Si-Fe
figure. Wall bowing occurs
becausethe
eddy
currents sample. 90°walls, “tree” patterns, and dislocations are clearly visible,
whichsurroundmoving walls producelocalmagneticfields 2.50X.
212 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE1974

2'; however, the [ O O l ] is often not parallel to the rollhg direc- Thedomainstructureinsamples of (100)[001] grain-
tion. Thus supplementary structures resembling "tree" patterns oriented 3% Si-Fe has been studied during magnetization using
are often observed, but seldom is anything more complicated thelongitudinalKerreffect [ 5 8 ] . In Figs. 28(a)and28(b)
seen. In Fig. 27, the trees exhibit uniform contrast that differs examples of the domain structure in the demagnetized state
significantly from that of the main domains. Thus the lattice and after magnetizing in a field of 10 Oe are shown. An area
strain of the tree domains must be different from that of the near the center of the sample is shown in Fig. 29 where the
main domains. In this flux closure structure, domains are evi- fluxdirectionsineachdomainareidentified.Treepatterns
dently able to relax t o strains near equilibrium (8) which are were observed in some of the grains but are too small to be
different in the two domains since the directions of magneti- seen in Fig. 28. Magnetization of these samples occurred by a
zation are perpendicular. Relaxation is not always possible as combination of 90'and 18Oowall motion. A large volume per-
was pointed out during the discussion ofFig. 3(b). cent of transverse domain structure sZz was observed and cor-
related to the orientation of the grain. This structure was a
type of supplementary structure which flux closed grain bound-
aries and theedges of the sample, keeping the net magnetization
parallel to the applied field.

5. MAGNETIC-PROPERTY DOMAIN STRUCTURE

CORRELATION

'hw;Lary ..,>.>' .."\
Fig. 28. Domain structure in vicinity of grain boundary during mag-
netization of (lOO)[OOl] grain-oriented 3% Si-Fc [58]. Field ofview
in 0.3 in. Rolling direction and direction of applied magnetic field t .
(a) Demagnetized. (b) Applied field = 10 Oe.
Fig. 29. Schematic of domain structure typicalof that shown in Fig. 28.
Walls labeled A are 90"walls and walls labelcd B are 180°walls. Di-
rection of magnetization in each domain is shown[ 5 8 ] .
Permeability
The permeability of a material in intermediate fields, i.c., in
fields significantly larger than the coercive field but less than
values approaching the knee of the magnetization curve is de-
scribed by equations of a form similar to ( 3 3 ) . In this region,
an increase in the external field increases the magnetization ac-
cording to( 3 3 )until the internalfield is zero. Throughout mag-
netization in this region domains are always distributed such
that the net magnetizationis parallel to the appliedfield. Since
there are many combinations of domain structures which satisfy
this condition, this constraint is not sufficient to allow a calcu-
lation of the shape of the magnetizatio;curve.Thegeneral
form of the magnetization curve can only be predicted if the
form of E K is accurately known, which is generally not the
case. Of some interest, however, is the dependence of inter-
mediate permeability on tensile stress applied parallel to the
rolling direction. Thisis qualitatively discussed in the following.
As shown in Fig. 19, a tensile stress applied parallel to the
rolling direction removes supplementary structure which then
reappears during magnetization. The effects of applied tensile
stress on the permeabilityhave been measured and tensile stress
has been shown to reduce the permeability considerably in in-
termediate fields [59]. Thisphenomenon is knownasthe
Villari reversal since one might anticipate an improvement in
permeability if domains are made to be along the easy direc-
tionclosest to the appliedfield.Thisphenomenonhasbeen
considered in detail [ 6 0 ] ,and the decrease in permeability re-
sulting from the applicationof tensile stress has been related to
the build up of magnetostatic energy which previously had been
reduced by supplementary structure. Since the magnetostatic
energy is small at low levels of magnetization, and since the
supplementary structure returns in high fields, only the perme-
ability in intermediate fields is significantly reduced by applied
tensile stress. The extent towhich the permeabilityis decreased
depends upon the orientation of the grains and the grain size.
This fact will be referred to later when the effects of applied
tensile stress on core loss are discussed.
The high field permeability, e.g., a measure of the induction
a t 10 Oe ( B l o ) ,is generally recognized as a reasonably accurate
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 2 13

measure of the extent to which the (110)[001] or (100)[001] Si-Fe were substantially less than that predicted using the as-
secondary recrystallization texture has been developed in 3% sumption that each grain was saturated along the easy direction
Si-Fe [ 6 1 ] . Thismeasurementisgenerallyinsensitive t o im- closest to the applied field. Craik and McIntyre [32] then at-
purity content, residual stress level, and grain size and is only a tempted to show that Littman's data were in agreement with
function o€ the orientation of the grains in the material. In the (35). However, Craik and Mclntyre's analysis is incorrect since
demagnetized state, and throughout magnetization up to the proper values of E l , E 2 , and E 3 were not used. Correct values
knee of, the magnetization curve, it has already been shown for E l , E z , and $ 3 are given by [64]
that domains are distributed among the six easy directions of
magnetization such that the net magnetization is parallel to the
= cos cos e
applied field. In the demagnetized state, this can easily be ac- [2 = cos @J sin 0 sin y + sin @ cos y (39)
complished by an infinite number of domain structures. How-
ever, if one places a constraint on the domain structure such
E3 = lcos @ sin 8 cos y - sin @ sin y I
that only the three easy directions closest to the applied field where 0 and @ are the tilt of the [OOl] out of the sheet plane
can be occupied, then unique values for the volume fractions andtherotationofthe [ O O I ] aboutthesheetnormal, re-
magnetizedalongeach of thesedirectionscanbecalculated spectively, and y'is the Euler rotation about the [OOl] to give
along with a value for the net induction parallel to the applied % (110)planeorientationandisthus45".Inthe case y =
field B p [ 101,[62]. In this case B p becomes '45", (35) becomes

Bl-'
_ -- 1
BS.
where i l , $ 2 , and E3 arethedirectioncosinesofthethree c o s @ c o s e +fi
T(cos@sine+sin@+lcos@sine-sin@I)
closest easy directions with respect to the rolling direction; and (40 )
the volume fractions L2i magnetized along the easy directions Thisequation is inrelativelygoodagreementwithmeasure-
are given by mentsof B l o although the induction at 10 Oe is somewhat
larger than that predicted by (40) [65]. The behavior of Blo
(36) calculated using (40) is shown in Table IV as a function of 0
and @. Here it is evident that Blo in (110) [ 0011 grain oriented
3% Si-Fe is governed by the larger of 6 and @ and not by 0 or
where i = 1,2,3. This state was proposed t o exist at the knee of @ independently, or the average of 0 and @. Thus according to
the magnetization curve by Becker and Doring [lo]. Magneti- (40), the Blo of a grain where 0 = 6Oand @ = 0"will be about
zation beyond this point requires either the build-up of a macro- the same as a grain where both 0 and @ are 6".
scopic magnetostatic energy on surfaces containing the applied
field direction or rotation of domains out of easy directions,
TABLE IV
both of which are difficult processes thus producing a knee in PredictedB,, in 3%Si-Fe as Function of Misorientation From ( l l O ) [ O O l ]
the magnetization curve. Orientation [ 641
In the case of (100)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe, the (100) B l o (kilogauss)
is nearly parallel to the surface i n all grains and (35) and (36) 8 (Degrees)
become $ (Degrees) 1i o 1 2
- lI 6 10 15
I I I I I
0 20.3 19.4 18.5 17.8 16.5 15.2

2 19.4 18.5
19.4 15.3 16.5 17.8

sin @ 4 18.5 18.5 18.6 17.8 16.5 15.3

a;22= sin @ + c o s @ 6 17.8 1 7 . 9 17.8 1 6 . 6
17.8 15.3

10 16.5 16.5 16.5 16.6 16.7 15.5

where @ is the angle between the [OOl] and the rolling direc-
15 15.2 15.3 15.3 1 5 . 3 ' 15.4 15.6
tion. Foster and Kramer [63] found good agreement between __
___ 1 4
thisequationandmeasurementsof B l o , whichwerealways 8 = t i l t of [OOl] out of sheet p l a n e ,
near th; knee of the magnetization curve. The domain structure 4 = anglebetween [OOl] and r o l l i n g d i r e c t i o n
insheetplane.
in samples of (lOO)[OOl] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe has been ob-
served at 10 Oe using the longitudinal Kerr effect [ 5 8 ] .Parti-
tioning of domains among the two easy directions of magneti- Thiscan be explainedinterms of thedomainstructures
zation closest to the applied field was observed in agreement previouslydiscussed.According to (40), domains exist along
with(38).Thedomainstructure is shownin Fig. 28(b). the three easy directions closest to the applied field such that
The permeability of (118)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe at the net magnetization is parallel to the applied field. The do-
the knee of the magnetization curve is also governed by (35) mains along the [ 0011 direction produce a normal component
although there is some confusion in the litlrature about the of magnetization at both the sheet surfaces and the sheet edges
correct form for the direction cosines. Littman [ 611 originally depending on the value of 8 and @. In order for the net mag-
showed that values for B l o in (1IO)[001 J grain oriented 3% netization normal to these surfaces to be zero, supplementary
214 IEEE TRANSACTIONS
JUNE ON MAGNETICS, 1974

structure must be introduced which carries an equal component reasonforthediscrepancyistheassumptionofuniformly

of fluxawayfromthesesurfaces.Sincethesupplementary changing magnetization in the core material. In actuality, the
structure is not normal to the sheet surface, but inclined at an magnetization is changing only at moving domain walls, where
angle of ?, 45"to it, supplementary structure carries approxi- dBldt is large and irregular with time.
mately equal components of flux away from both the sheet The losses of grain oriented 3% Si-Fe can be estimated using
surfaces and sheet edges regardless of whether this is necessary domain theory by a consideration of (21). The eddy current
or not. Thus supplementary structure cannot be introduced dragonamovingdomain wall -0; is dissipative and is re-
only to compensate sheet surface demagnetizing fields. When sponsible for the eddy current losses of 3% Si-Fe. Thus the
6 = 8Oand @I = Oo, for example, the supplementary structure eddy current energy loss occurringwhenawallmovesfrom
must alternate between structures which carry flux along the position XA t o position Xg is given by
+ [ l i O ] directions (Fig. 14(d)) in order to avoid a net compo-
nent of magnetizationparallel to the cross direction or*[ 1701.
When 6 = 8'and Q = 8", the volume percent of supplementary
structure and also Blo can remain the same as when @I = Oo, ex-
cept in this case the structure will not alternate as it did in Fig
14(d)butinstead, only onesymmetry will existandequal
components of flux normal to both the sheet surface and sheet
edges are carried by the supplementary structure. TA

where WA is the work done per unit wall area against the dissi-
Core Loss
pative force, and ( T B - 7 ~is) the time interval during wall mo-
Core loss (or iron loss) in electrical equipment, particularly tion from XA t o XB.The instantaneous power loss per unit
transformers, is undesirable from every point of view. I t repre- wall area p A is the time derivative of (42b), orp v Z , and the in-
sents a continuing economic loss t o t h euser of the equipment, stantaneous power loss per unit volumep v is just flu2 lw where
and the equipmentdesigner must devise ways of dissipating the w is the width of the sample. The average power loss per unit
heat and limiting the temperature rise t o a value which will not volume pV is the work done per unit volume divided by the
cause electrical insulation to deteriorate. time necessary for the wallt o move from X, to XB, or
While core loss cannot be eliminated entirely, it can be mini-
mized through controlled domain structure. In the following
section, the origin of losses in grain oriented 3% Si-Fe is con-
sidered in terms of fundamentalrearrangementsofdomain
structure, and the manner in which metallurgicalvariables, i.e.,
The power loss calculated in this manner includes the so-
grain size, orientation, purity, etc., affect core lossis discussed
called "hysteresis l o ~ and
~ " thus represents virtually all of the
in terms of their effect on domain structure.
measured losses in the material since other relaxation processcs
It hasbeen shown that the domain structure of grain oriented
are believed to be insignificant for domain wall velocities com-
3% Si-Feconsistsessentially of a shperposition of main and
monly encountered during60 Hz magnetization of (110)[001]
supplementary structure. Losses are associated with rearrange-
grain oriented 3% Si-Fe [ 111. This is true with the possible ex-
ments of both of these structures as well as with interactions
ception of magnetoelastic energy losses which will be briefly
betweenthetwo. We will begin byconsidering losses due
discussed when the loss contribution from supplementary struc-
mainly t o rearrangements of the main structure, Le., that due
ture is considered.
to 180"wall motion. This subject has received by far the most
Therefore,calculationof losses in 3% Si-Fe fromdomain
attention in the literature. We will then consider the effect of
theory requires solution of (42c) using appropriate values for
supplementary structure on losses. Following these discussions
v ( t ) and p. Williams, Shockley,andKittel [ 121 (WSK) have
we will considerthejustification of separating losses into
considered the case of an isolated 180'wall moving at constant
hysteresis and eddy current components.
velocity. In this case /3 is given by 0180 (29), and substitution
Losses due to 18O0wall motion. Core losses arise simply be-
of plso in (42c) gives
causethecorematerials are electricalconductorswhichsur-
round changingmagnetic fields'. Witheverychange in mag- 16RS2v2d
netization, eddy currents are induced in the core material, and Pv = (43)
wn3pc2 .
energy is lost through 12R heating. In the classical treatment of
this situation, the change of magnetization of the core is as- Polinov [67], Lee [54] ,[68], and Pry and Bean [69] have
sumed to be uniform and, in this case, the average power loss considered the case of a system of 18OOwalls with spacing 21,
is given by [66] all moving with equal but not necessarily constant velocity and
the latter find the instantaneous power loss per unit volume
p,, is given by

assuming sinusoidal induction with frequencyf and peak induc-

tion, B,. Eddy current losses calculated from (41) are con-
sistently and substantially less than measured
losses. The major
AND SHILLING 3% Si-Fe 215

where 2L is thespacingofthedomain walls. Thisexpressionspaced walls M;mo tothemobilityofanisolated180uwall

must be integrated over time to find the average power loss. In MI800 is equal to the ratio of (29) and (49) and is given by
the case of constant velocity and 2Lld > 1, the series is rapidly
converging to a value of 1.0, and the average power loss per
volume unitgiven PI/ is by M180° Pi80 7r3

16BS2v2d
PV = (45)
2Ln3p c2
Thus the mobility of a wall in a system of finely spaced walls
which is largerthanthe WSK expression(43)byafactor
is much less than the mobility of an isolated 180"waIl due to
w/2L which is just N,the number of domain walls as expected.
eddycurrentinteractions.Sincetheeddycurrentlossesare
Thus the value of for a system of 180"walls is very near that
proportionalto 0,it mayseemcontradictorythat >film
for an isolated wall (29) when 2Lld >
1. As the walls become
yet losses for a finely spaced wall system are less than losses
more closely spaced, the eddy currents from neighboring walls
for a coarsely spaced system. There is n o real contradiction,
interact and the net result is an increase in 0 and a decrease in
however, since losses are proportional to the quantity (N/3v2),
mobility. This will be considered in more detail in the follow-
which, in the case of a system of finely spaced walls, is inde-
ing paragraph.
pendent of the domain spacing 2L.
Pry and Bean [69] consider the time average of (44) in the
Thus the average power loss in (110) [ 0011 grain oriented
case where a system of 180°walls is undergoing sinusoidal wall
3% Si-Fe due to 180" wall motion ,is given by (42c) summed
motion. Assuming the maximum sample induction to be B,,
over all walls or
the velocity of each 180"wall isgiven by

and the average power loss PV is given by where N = number of domain walls. From our observations of
domain structure in this material the ratio of wall spacing t o

*odd icoth nq
sheet thickness (2Lld)is usually
approximationfor Pi is
> 1 and therefore a very good
given by(29).Therelationsfor
power loss derived assuming uniform wall motion (e.g., (47))
are generally not applicable since wall motion is not uniform
(or sinusoidal in the case of (47)). According to (29) and (51),
losses are directly proportional to the ratio d/p where d is the
sheet thickness and p is the resistivity.Thisbehavioris dis-
tinctly different from that predicted by the classical calculation
where q = 2nL/d and 11 ( z ) is the first-order bessel function of (41) where losses increased as the sheet thickness squared. The
imaginary argument. other important thing to note in (51) is that losses increase
As 2Lld becomes large, Pv approaches with the square of the wall velocity.
The effects of impurities, grain size, grain orientation and
1'1/(2L/d> 1)= 1.63 Pc2 (2Lld) (48)
stress on losses can be analyzed using (51) and knowledge of
whichcan also beobtainedbysubstituting(46)into ( 4 2 ~ ) .how these variables affect domain structure. Since the induc-
using 0 foranisolated180°wall, i.e., given by(29).Thus tion B is constrained to besinusoidal during the operation of a
as was true for constant velocity, 6 = 6180 for a system of 180" transformer, the instantaneous domain wall velocity averaged
walls moving with sinusoidal velocity as long as 2Lld > 1.As over all walls v(t)must also be sinusoidal. Thus if the motion of
2L/d becomes small, (47) reduces to the classical loss given by an individual wall is interrupted, by pinning for example, the
(41), and in this case a value for 6 can be obtained by setting wall will move slower than F ( t ) while it is pinned and faster
(42c) equal to (41) and solving for 6 using the expression for than C ( t ) for a short period of time afterit becomes unpinned.
the velocity of a domain wall given by (46). In this calculation, Thisprocess will result in an increase in losses compared to
(42c) must be multiplied by N, the number of domain walls, uniform wall motion ( u i ( t ) = ~ ( tfor ) dl walls) since losses are
which is equal to w/2L. Following this procedure, the value proportional to thesquareofthe wall velocity.Thusthe
obtained for 0fp'180 is given by presence of impurities that pin domain walls is undesirable.
DijkstraandWert [70] have shown that the interaction be-
(49) tween a spherical 2nd phase particle and a 180"domain wall in
3% Si-Fe is largest when the diameter of the particle is approxi-
where 2Lld 1.< mately the same as the wall thickness (1000-2000 a). Thus
particles of this size are particularly undesirable.
Unlike the isolated 180°wall (29), the damping coefficient According to (46) the wall velocity should decrease if the
for a system of finely spaced walls 6 \ 8 0 is'a function of the wall spacing is reduced. Thus losses should be reduced by a de-
domain spacing and increases with decreasing domain spacing. crease in wall spacing 2L. The losses will not depend on the
The ratio of the mobility of a 180"wall in a system of finely square of the wall spacing, however, since N,the number of
216
domain walls, must increase if 2L decreases for constant B,.
Thusthe lossesshould beroughlyproportionaltothe first
power of the wall spacing. Two metallurgical variables affect
wall spacing; applied tensile stress and grain size. Both applied
tensile stress and reduction of grain size were shown t o reduce
the 18OOwall spacing. These domain spacing refinements should
result in a decrease in core loss, b u t in practice, a reduction of
losses with applied tensile stress is observed only in very high
permeability materials, B at 10H 2 19 000 G, with large grain
size.
1.4 I I I 1 I I I I
Grain Diameter at = oe
A Single
Grain 1828
8 02 04 06 08 lo 12 14 16
Stress, kg/mm2
Fig. 30. Effect of applied tensile stress on core loss at 15 k G / 5 0 Hz in moves during6 0 Hz magnetization is not known. However,since
[llO)[OOl] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe 1711.
Typical loss-stress data for high permeability oriented steels
grain sizes are shown in Fig. 30 [ 711. By far the
with various -
largest reduction in losses with increasing stress occurred in the
single crystal with high permeability. From the discussion
permeability,a large 10 Oepermeability is associatedwith
better orientation. Thuslarge decreases in loss upon application
of tensile stress or a reduction ingrain size are restricted in the
main to well oriented materials. As we have shown in Figs. 18
and 19, applied tensile stress does not effectively refine the wall
spacinginmany cases, particularlyinsmallgrainedlower
permeability material, due to the reappearance of supplemen-
tary structure during magnetization and the pinning of domain
walls by grain boundary demagnetizing fields which are com-
pensated in the unstressed sample by supplementary structure
[42]. Both Littmann [61] and Thompson [ 501 have noticed
that losses cannotbecontinuouslydecreased by decreasing
grain size. Below acertain optimum grain size (2' 0.7 cm) losses
increase with decreasing grain size. This behavior must be due
to an increasing amount of domain wall pinning with decreas-
ing grain size associated with the build-up of a large magneto-
static energy at the grain boundaries [42]. Thus in the case of
materials which are large grained and very well oriented (these
two conditions are highly correlated metallurgically), it is im-
perative that tensile stress be applied in order to obtain low
losses. Grain size refinement may not be necessary(c.f., crystal
with Blo = 18 900 in Fig. 30) although it too can be effective. Fig. 31. Relationship between core losses and permeability a t 1 0 Oer-
The effect of tensile stress has,been exploited successfully by
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE 1 9 7 4
the use of stress inducing coatings for very high permeability
oriented silicon steel [ 721 .
Calculation o f losses based on domain processes are further
complicated by domain wall bowing and wall nucleation. It
was shown in the preceding section that180Odomain walls may
often be bowed through the sheet thickness during magnetiza-
tion of (110)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe. If this is in fact
the case, losses calculated usingp = fl180 will suffer an additional
error because planar walls were assumed in the derivation of
PISo. There is no general agreement on whether wall bowing
will increaseordecrease losses. According to mostauthors,
bowed walls should produce lower eddy current losses than
plane walls [ 121 ,[48], and [ 551, while several other investiga-
tors have stated that wall bowingwill increase losses [45] ,[51].
However, the experiments by Helmiss [48] ,[49] and the cal-
culation by Bishop [ 551 indicate quite convincingly, that wall
bowingcan occur and that it leads to significantly lower losses
than those calculated assumingplane wall motion. The effect of
wall nucleationon losses is not known; however, itappears
reasonable to assume, as suggested by Brailsford [ 733 , that nu-
cleation increases losses somewhat. As shown in Fig. 23, wall
nucleation very often occurs during every cycle of magnetiza-
tion in 3% Si-Fe. One must be careful, however, in analyzing
structures such as those shown in Fig. 23, since wall bowing
and not wall nucleation may be occurring.
Losses due to the motion of supplementary structure. This
field has not been extensively treated either experimentally or
theoretically.Theextenttowhichsupplementarystructure
supplementarystructure is bounded by 90°wallsandsince
9OOwall motion isgenerallybelieved to increaselossesover
180°wall motion [ 741 ,[ 751 , due perhaps to magnetoelastic
effects as well as eddycurrenteffects [75], motionofthis
structure may increase losses appreciably.
Kiippers e t aZ. [ 261 , have found that thepresence of supple-
of
mentary structure increases the coercivity presumably by an
interaction between a moving 180°wall of the main structure
and a supplementary domain. Kuppers e t al. [26] also showed
that the amount of supplementary structure increases with in-
creasingmisorientationandincreases as thesample is mag-
netized. The latter effect shows that supplementary structure
I I I I I
1700 1650 1750 1800 1850
Permeability at 10 Oersteds
steds in (110)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe [ 6 1 ] .
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 217

does move during magnetization. Kiippers et aE. [ 261 have sug-

gested that part of the lossimprovement occurringwith applied
tensile stress results from the elimination of the supplementary
structure itself, apart from wall refinement. Applied stress has
been shownt o eliminate this structure in well oriented materials
during part of the magnetization cycle, (Figs. 18 and 19), and
therefore Kiippers’ suggestion seems reasonable.
The perfection of the (110)[001] textureof orientedsilicon
Eddy Loss
steel is more commonly evaluated from the measurement of t F
Static Hysteresis
B a t lOH, and thisparametercorrelatesstronglywithcore
losses, Fig. 31 [61]. This correlation results in part from the I I
1 Lqss
I
,
OO 20 40 60 80 100
fact that the losses are measured for the component of mag- Frequency, Hz
netization parallel to the rolling direction, and, as can be seen Fig. 32. Total loss per cycle as function of frequency in 3% Si-Fe [76].
from any of the domain structure photographs, theeasy direc-
tion of magnetizationinanyindividual grain is not exactly
parallel to the test direction. Since the test induction BT is of the B-H loop,) is plotted as a function of magnetizing fre-
established, e.g., a t 15 kG, the peak induction of any grain quency [76]. In this figure, the curve C B represents the meas-
B p is given by ured loss/cycle as a function of frequency. The loss/cycle at
BT point C is assumed t o be the hysteresis loss which is also as-
Bp = -
cos (Y sumed to be a constant component of the total core loss (line
C F ) . When the classical eddy current loss/cycle is added to the
where (Y is the angle between the test direction and the [OOl]
hysteresis loss line CD results in which case the anomalous loss
direction in the grain. Thus the larger (Y is, the higher the peak
at 60 Hz is about 50% of the total loss. When the eddy current
induction iri’the grain, and this forces the domainwalls to move
calculation is correctedfordomain wall motionusing(47),
further as well as faster than in a perfectly oriented grain. In
line CE results, still leaving a significant anomalous loss.
addition, the volume of supplementary domain structure in-
It has been suggested [20] that (47) is inapplicablesince
creases rapidly with increasing misorientation and thus reduces
domain walls do not move equally with sinusoidal velocity as
the volume of material available t o carry flux in the test direc-
assumed inderiving this equation; and thatall of the anomalous
tion. Again this forces further faster mainwall motion. Finally,
loss can be accounted for if the nonuniform nature of domain
the supplementary structure involves the creation, motion, and
wall motion is taken into account. In addition, Becker [ 111 has
annihilation of 9OOdomain walls, all of which are energy con-
suggested that it is unreasonable to separatelosses into hysteresis
consuming processes.
and eddy current components since all losses are dissipated by
Loss separation. The subject of losses in (110)[ 0011 grain
oriented 3% Si-Fe is not complete without a discussion of the eddy currents. The following analysis should help clarify this
so-called anomalous loss. In order to aid in determining the situation.
origin of losses in3%Si-Fe, it has become customary to separate Let the velocity of a domainwall ui(t) be given by
the observed total loss into hysteresis and eddy current com-
~ i ( t )= S(t)+ AFi(t) + A ~ i ( t ) (53)
ponents. The hysteresis loss has been assumed t o be a measure
of wall pinning effects whereas the eddy current loss is thought where g(t) is the instantaneous domain wall velocity averaged
t o be a direct result of the fact that walls are forked t o move over all thedomains in thesample: AFi(t) is thedifference
with some average instantaneous velocity F((t), which is directly between ~ ( tand) u i ( t ) due to a difference in the peak displace-
proportional to the magnetizing frequency (cf., (46)). In order ment of theith wall compared to theaverage wall inthe sample;
to determine the relative amounts of hysteresis and eddy current and Aui(t)is the remainingdifference betweenv(t) and v i ( t ) due
loss in agiven sample under specified excitation conditions, the to short time pinning effects.’ The total loss can be calculated
hysteresislossiscustomarilyestimatedby slowlytraversing using (51) and (53) andis given by
<
cf 0.1 Hz) a B-H loop in which case 4t) and therefore the
eddy current losses are assumed to be negligible. The eddy cur- N T
rent loss is then estimated using both the classical theory (41) pV =L
w T
Pi[~(t)+ A3i(t)+ A v i ( t ) ] dt (54)
and domain theories such as (47) assuming uniformwall motion i=l 0
and values for 2L/d estimated from static domain observations.
where T is theperiod. Assuming Pi = oneobtains
When theestimatedhysteresisandeddycurrent lossesare
added, their sum is significantly less than measured losses. The N T
difference between the measuredlosses and the sum of the esti-
mated hysteresis and eddy current losses has been termed the
Pv=-
wT
I [ T 2 ( t )+ A $ ( t ) + A ~ i ( t )d t~ ] (55)

“anomalous” loss. The anomalous loss has received much at-

tention sinceit can amount toas much as 50% of the measured
losses.
An example of how losses are separated in grain oriented
3% Si-Fe is shown in Fig. 32 where the loss per cycle (or area
51f thc quantity ( ~ ( t-) oi(f)) were expanded in a fourier series of
harmonics of the magnetizing frequency, A ~ i ( fwould
) be the first term
in the expansion and thus @ ( t )+ AiJi(t))represents the componcnt of
the wall velocity occurring at the magnetizing frequency.
 218 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, JUNE1974

where it has been further assumed that the cross terms integrate Tworecentstudies have beenundertakenwhich havc at-
to zero since Au,(t) is both positive and negative during a time tempted to resolve the anomalous loss question in 3%Si-Fe
d t when the quantity ATi(t) remains relatively constant, and .
[ 5 2 j , [ 8 1j -[ 841 In these studies, the domain structure and
that the sum of 2F(t)[AYi(t) + Avi(t)] over all walls is zero by losscsinsingle crystals of 3% Si-Fewithexact (110)[001]
definition of T ( t ) . Upon separation of terms and integrating orientation have been studied simultaneously during magneti-
usingexpressionsfor F ( t ) andATi(t)similar to(46), (55) zation at frequencies from dc to 200 Hz. The results of these
becomes studies clearly show that N,pi and Au,(t) all vary with mag-
netizing frequency and induction and that these variations pro-
duce significant changes in core loss. The most surprising result
of both studies was that for constant wall spacing and peak in-
duction, the total losslcycle waslinearlydependenton mag-
netizing frequency as predicted by (56) and (41); however, the
N T slope was significantly smaller than that predicted by Pry and
+h wT
I Avi2(t) d t (56) Bean [69] (56) at high inductions, H > 10 kG. Below 10 kG,
there was good agreemcnt with the Pry and Bean calculation.
i=l 0
This discrepancy did not appcar to be due entirely towall bow-
ing, and it appears that the eddy current distribution at high
where pi is thefactorbywhich g ( t ) mustbemultiplied in
inductions must be something other than that considered by
order to obtainAZi @i=A?i(t)/C(t)) and is a constant for agiven
Pry and Bean. In their calculation, Pry and Bean assume that
wall. The first term in (56) represents the eddy current loss as-
the 180’domain wall is normal to the sheetsurface and remains
sociated with the average instantaneous wall velocity which is
plane during magnetization. Both studics indicate thqt one or
proportional to the magnetizing frequency. The second term
both of these assumptions is invalid during magnetization at
represents the eddy current loss due t o pinning effects and can
high inductions. In addition, a reccnt calculation indicatcs that
be termed a hysteresis loss. The first term is identical to the
the Pry and Bcan calculation must be modificd significantly for
Pry and Bean calculation, in the limit of noninteracting walls,
N crystals of finite width [ 821 .
multiplied by the factor [ 1 + igl pi2 ] which takes into account
Magnetostriction. When alaminationof 3% Si-Fe is mag-
the fact that all walls do not move with equal amplitude. In the
netized, its dimensions change in all directions. This phenom-
limit where all walls move with equal amplitude, Avi(t) = 0 and
enon is termed “magnetostriction.”The definition of magncto-
pi = 0. Thus to the extent that thecross terms in (54) integrate
striction generally accepted by the users and suppliers of this
to zero and to the extent thatpi = p18o, it seems reasonable to
material is the net strain measured parallel to the applied field
separate losses into hysteresis and eddy current components.
when the material is magnetized from the demagnetized state
Let us now consider possible sources for the anomalous loss.
(i.e., the point B = 0 on the hysteresis loop) to a given induc-
From the aboveanalysis 56, it seemsreasonable t o separate
tion. The magnetostriction ‘A should not be confused with the
losses into hysteresis and eddy current components. The appear-
equilibrium lattice strains of (8), although the strains of thein-
ance of an anomalous loss must be due, therefore, to incorrect
dividual domains are directly responsible for magnetostriction.
estimates of the two components. Values for p i can only be
This definition of magnetostrictionis really quite arbitrary since
obtained using high speed Kerr cinematography of the domain
length changes generally occur along directions normal to the
processes inall the grains of a sample. This has never been done.
direction of magnetization (which are seldom mcasured), and
According to (56), nonequal wall motion amplitudes (;.e., values
in addition, reference points other thanB = 0 could just as well
o f p i # 0) would cause a significant increase in the eddy cur-
have been choscn. In any event, the length changes occurring
rent loss overthe caseof uniform wall motion (pi = 0 ) . In
addition, the second termin the expression cannot be estimated
by ameasurementofdchysteresis loss sincethedomain
processeshavebeenshown t o be frequency dependent, e.g.,
more heavily pinned wallsbeginmoving as themagnetizing
frequencyisincreased. In addition, (56) assumes thatonly
180°wall motion occurs and that p = p180.The movement of
supplcmentary structure must certainly contribute to thelosses
of this material and in addition, such complicating factors as
wall bowing and wall nucleation have not been considered. Thus
all previous attempts to separatelosses into hysteresis and eddy
current components are incorrect because they have not ade-
quatelyconsideredthe real domainstructure.Thecurvature
present in the loss/cycle vs frequency curve is undoubtedly due
to a complex dependence of pi,N,p i , and Avi(t) on magnetiz-
ing frequency [ 201 ,[45] -[47] ,[77] -[84]. In fact, when one
considers all the variables left unconsidered in the loss separa-
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
B IkGI
16 18
1 20

tion shownin Fig. 32, itis rather astonishing that the anomalous Fig. 33. Magnetostriction of singlc crystals with perfect (110) oricnta-
loss is as small as it has been estimated to be. tion. [OOl] made an angle Q with applied field [ 3 6 ] .
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 219

duiing magnetization are generally believed t o be a significant

cause of transformer noise which in many cases is of more con-
cern to the transformer user thanlosses.
Themagnetostriction h isgenerally a functionofthree
vdriables: (1) induction; (2) grain orientation;and (3) the
applied or residual stress level. Before magnetostriction can be
understood properly in terms of fundamental domain processes,
themannerinwhichmagnetostriction is affectedbythese
three variables must be'well understood. For this reason, the
general behavior of magnetostriction 4 1 be reviewed briefly.
In Fig. 33, 'the effect of grain orientation and induction on
h is illustrated. Ih this experiment, h was measured in (110)
single crystals as a function of induction and @, where @ is the
angle between the direction of the applied field and the [ 0011
[36]-[38]. In the case @ = Oo, i.e., perfect ( i l o ) [ o o i ] orienta-
tion, h was zero up to 16 kG and slighly positive forB >1 6 kG. -10 I
0
I
15'
I
30"
I
45'
. I
60'
I
75' 90'
When @ variedfrom 5Oto 30°, h becameincreasingly,more 0
negative with increasing @ during magnetizati.on t o % 1 5 kG Fig. 35. Magnetostriction at 15 kG in Epstein samplcs cut at various
and then becameless negative and fhally positive, with respect angles @ t o rolling direction [86] .
to B = 0, for B > % 1 5 kG. When @ was 90°, h was positive at
all inductions.
ably good for @<30°. At55', however, Shur reported negative
h at 15 kG whereas Simmons reported near zero values. At 4 =
90°, both Simmons and Shur reported positive values for h at
1 5 kG, but thosemeasuredbySimmonsweresignificantly
larger. The differences between the two experiments for @ 2
55"weremost likdy causedbydifferencesinthedomain
structure existing in the demagnetized state and should not be
takentoo seriously.Thiswillbeconsideredinmoredetail
later. The important thing to note in these figures is that X is
sharply dependent on orientation and can be nearly zero (4 =
o O ) , positive or negative.

i .

Fig. 34. Magnetostriction of comniercial ( l l O ) [ O O l ] grain briented 3%

Si-Fe during magnetization along (a) rolling direction, and (b) cross
direction [85]. \
\ \ \ 0 lIbsiin21
-2
In Fig. 54, the mlignetostriction in satnples of commercial I I I I I
(110)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe.is shown as a functioh of - 500 1\O
--2
induction during magnetization parallel to the rolling direction
and dunng magnetization parallel to the cross direction [85].
The behavior of these samples at all inductions is very similarto
the behavior of the single crystals studied by Shur [36] -[38]
(Fig. 33) when @ = 5" and 90". Agreement of polycrystalline Fig. 36.Magnetostriction of (llO)[OOl)3% Si-Fe at 15 kGduring
magnetization parallel to the rolling directionas a function of applied
samples cut.paralle1 to the rolling direction with single crystals stress. (a) Uncoated: (b) Single-coated. (c) Double-coated [ S 7 ] .
having @ = Oois not expected since the polycrystalline samples
are not perfectly oriented, by definition.
An experiment similar t o Shur'ssingle crystal experiment In Fig. 36 the magnetostriction at 15 kG is shown as a func-
was conducted by Simmons et aZ. [ 861 , using Epstein samples tion of appliedstressparallel t o- t h e rollingdirectionin
of commercial j l l O ) [ O O l ] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe cut at vari- Epsteinsamplesof (1l o ) [ 0011grainoriented 3% Si-Fe cut
ous angles @ to the rolling dkection. The results are shown in parallel t b the rolling direction [ 8 7 ] . Three different samples
Fig. 35. Here the magnetostriction at 15 kG is shown as a func- werestudied: (1) doublecoatedcatenaryannealedsamples;
tion of @.Agreement between these two experimentsis reason- (2) normal single coatedsamples;and (3) uncoatedsamples.
220 TRANSACTIONS IEEE ON MAGNETICS, JUN’E 1974
SHILLING AND HOUZE: GRAIN-ORIENTED 3% Si-Fe 221

induction, being zero in the demagnetized state, the magnitude structure.Inthiscase,themagnetostriction is given by the
of h will vary with induction. In addition, since the volume same expression as in the case of band structure (59), except
fraction of transverse domain structure varies with @, the mag- that 8 issubstitutedforor
nitude of h will be a function of @. The strain of the sample in
the demagnetized state isgiven by

(57) where

since only domains along the +[OO1] are assumed to exist in

the demagnetized state. The volume fraction of transverse do-
mains at the knee of the magnetization curve can be taken as
that given by (36) and (39) where y =&/2 in which case, the and
final strain of the samplesis given by

This explanation is also in good agreement with typical values

+ a 27
3 h l o o ( ~ s i n 2@ of h in (110)[001] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe.
Thusthenegativemagnetostrictionof(110)[001] grain
Thus the magnetostriction at the knee of themagnetization oriented 3% Si-Fe is duetoreformation ofsupplementary
curvcdue t o values of @ # O o , is given by structure in order to keep the net magnetization parallel to the
applied field. The amount of this structure is related to mis- the
(59) orientation and will be zero if 0 = @ = Ooin which case the mag-
netostriction will be zero. Such was the case during the mag-
where netization of a perfect single crystal (curve 1, Fig. 33) up to
16 kG. The positive valuesof magnetostriction occurring for
B > 16 kG indicatethatsomesupplementary,ortransverse
domain structure existed in the demagnetized state which was

For @ = 5", for example, X according t o (59) would be -3.5

removed at B > 1 6 kG. Removal of this structure must involve

X whichisinreasonableagreementwithobservedvalues
reorientationofdomainsfromthe +[loo] or +[OI.O] to the
[ O O I ] , which will producepositivemagnetostriction as dis-
of h at the knee of the magnetization curve. Simmons [86],
cussed.
has shown that the amount of band structure can be predicted
Themagnetostrictionmeasuredduringmagnetization of
at inductions B intermediate between the demagnetized state
(110)[0011 grain oriented 3% Si-Fe in the cross direction is
and the kneeof the curve using the constraint that the netmag-
more difficult to analyzesince little is known about the domain
netization be parallel to the applied field, in whichcase X is
structure during magnetizationin the cross direction. If itis as-
given by h g and ~ is equal to
sumed that the demagnetized state is that shown in Fig. 18(b),
due to the presence of an applied coating, the largepositive
values of h are due to growth of domains along + [ O l O ] and
?[ 1001directions by 90"wall motionduringmagnetization.
According to ( 8 ) , thestraininthe [ 1101 directioninitially
Where BN is the induction at the knee of the magnetization (i.e., in thedemagnetizedstate)would be % -12 X in/in.
curve andis given by (40). Values for AB@ a t 15 kG were shown After magnetizing to the point where domains were along the
by Simmons [ 861 t o be in good agreement with the measured [Oio] and the [ 1001 directions, the strain in the [ l i o ] direc-
values shown in Fig. 35. tionwouldbe +hlm/4 or +5.9 X resulting in anetstrain
As mentionedabove,there is asecondcauseof negative alongthe [ l i o ] of % +18 X which is
somewhat larger
magnetostrictionin ( l l O ) [ O O l ] 3% Si-Fe. In Fig. 19, it was thanhasbeenobserved.This is expectedsincefluxclosure
shown that verysmalltensilestressesremove supplementary structure along the *[001], which must occur, has not been
structure which reappears during magnetization. The "effective considered.
tensile stresses" of coatings are certainly large enough t o pro- The effect of applied stresses on magnetostriction can also
ducethesameeffect.Thusasimilarmagnetizationprocess bequalitativelyunderstood,although,notenough is known
should be expectedincoatedmaterial.Thereformation of about the domain structure to make a quantitative calculation.
supplementary structure during magnetization requires the re- Beyond about 400 lb/in2, tensile stresses do not significantly
orientation of domains from the[ 0011 to the& [ 1001 or &[ 0101. change the amount of supplementary structure in the demag-
This will occur by 90" wall motion, and negative magnetostric- netized state nor the amount at the knee o f the magnetization
tion will be produced. The volume fraction of transverse do- curve.Thuslittlechangeinthemagnetostrictionoccursfor
main structure and the magnetostriction can be calculatedas a 0>400 lb/in2 (Fig. 36). Compressive stresseshave bcen shown,
function of induction during magnetization up to the knee of however, t o greatlyincreasetheamount of supplementary
the magnetization in much the same way as was done for band structure(Fig.18(c)).Duringmagnetizationparalleltothe
222
rolling direction, most of this supplementary structure is re-
moved by 90’wall motion which produces a positive magneto-
striction
of % * 35.6 X where !22 is the
volume
frac-
tion of supplementary structure removed during magnetization.
Valuesof h typicallyobservedundercompressivestressare
% 20 X indicating Q 2 60%.
Thus the magnetostriction of (110)[001] grain oriented 3%
Si-Fe is controlled by rearrangements of 90°walls. Since the
amount of supplementary structure is a function of the induc-
tion, crystal orientation and stresslevel, the magnetostriction is
also a function of the same variables. Control of the magneto-
striction, just as in the case of other magnetic properties, re-
quires control of the domain structure.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Three major conclusions can be drawn from recent studies
of the domain structure in ( l l O ) [ O O l ] grain oriented 3% Si-Fe
and these are as follows:
(1) A significant amount of domain structure exists along
easy directions transverse to the rolling direction (so-called sup-
plementary domains) throughout magnetization up to the knee
of the magnetization curvein order to reduce the magnetostatic
energy.
(2) The behavior of supplementary domain structure during
magnetization must be known if magnetic properties are to be
accurately predicted.
(3) Thedomain processes duringmagnetizationundergo
fundamentalchangeswhenthemagnetizingfrequency is in-
creased from dc to 60 Hz.
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Magnetic Separation: A Review of Principles,

Devices, and Applications
JOHN A. OBERTEUFFER

Abstract - Conventionalmagneticseparationdevicesare
widely used for the removal of tramp iron from a variety of
feed materials and for the beneficiation of ferrous ores. These
devices for separation of strongly magnetic materials employ
avarietyofmechanical designs. Recentlydeveloped high
gradient magnetic separation devices extend the useful appli-
cationofmagneticseparationtoveryweaklymagneticma-
terials of small particle size. Potentialapplicationsofthese
new devices in pollution control, chemical processing, and the
benefication of nonferrouslowgradeores is indicated.The
principle of operation of magneticseparation devices is the
interactionbetweenmagneticfaacesandcompeting gravita-
tional,
hydrodynamic, and
interparticle
forces
within
the
magneticseparator.Withoutresort to adetailedanalysisof
the separation process, an understanding of the characteristics
of magnetic separators is possible by consideration of a simple
force-balancemodel.Descriptionsoftheconventionalgrate,
drum and belt magnetic separators, laboratory magnetic sepa-
rators, and several high gradient devices are given to illustrate
the devices of major commercial importance and to illuspate
the physical principles of magnetic separation.
than to refining mechanical operation for various feeds. High
gradientmagneticseparationdevicescapableofseparating
even very weakly paramagnetic particles, however, have been
designed t o maximize the magnetic forces. Recently developed
devices of thistype willgreatly extendtheapplicationof
magnetic separators. This paper surveys the principal types of
conventional and high gradient magnetic separators and their
operations and applications. The general principles of magnetic
separationarediscussedandapplied to indicatesomeactual
and potential limits of magnetic separationdevices.
Elements of a Magnetic Separator
Magnetic separation is aphysicalseparationofdiscrete
particles based on the three-way competition between tractive
magnetic forces,’ gravitational, frictional or inertial [ 6, p. 441
forces, andattractiveorrepulsiveinterparticleforces.These
forces combine to act differentially on particles of differing
magnetic properties in the feed material. Fig. 1 represents the
principal elements of the operation of a magnetic separator.

FEED
I. INTRODUCTION
Magnetic separation is an old technique for the removal of
tramp iron and for the concentration of iron ores. Since 1849,
numerous United States patents on magnetic separation have
beenissued,andtextsbyLangguth [ l ] ,Korda [ 2 ] , and
Gunther [ 3 ] before 1910 describeavariety of devicesfor
mineral processing. Magnetic separation is probably the largest
industrial use of magnetism, exclusive of motors and electric
powergenerating devices. Conventionalmagneticseparation
devices are generally restricted to separating strongly magnetic
materials, such as iron and magnetite. A number of different TAIL MAGS
types of devices have been developed, but they reflect a ten-
dency to give less attention to maximizing the magnetic forces MIDDLINGS

Fig. 1. Schematic rcpresentation of magnetic separator.

ManuscriptreceivcdOctober 5, 1973; revisedFebruary26,1974.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under a
RANN (Rcsearch Applied to National Necds) Contract. ’
Magneticseparators
utilizing
time-varyingmagnetic fields to

ratory,
Cambridge, Mass. 02139.
-
The author is with the M.I.T. Francis Bitter National Magnet Labo- produce separations on the basis of magnetic
[4,
1091
p. or conductivity [ 5 ] considered
will
benot
v

here.
coercivitv or remanence