2524 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 29, NO.
6,NOVEMBER 1993
MAGNETIZATION PROCESSES IN AMORPHOUS WIRES IN ORTHOGONAL FIELDS
L.V.Panina, H.Katoh, and K.Mohri
Department of Electrical E n g . ,
K.Kawashima
WITIKA LTD., Central Research,
Abstract- The magnetization of magnetostrictive amorphous
wires with t*a fields at right angles is analyzed. Two ways
to superimpose a hard-axis field on the main easy-axis drive
field are considered. In the case of longitudinal
magnetization a circular field created b a dc axial current
is a hard-axis field. This field results in a decrease in
the nucleation field which is critical for the onset of the
large Barkhausen jump. Negative magnetostrictive amorphous
wires with a circumferential anisotropy in the sheath can be
magnetized by an axial current. In this case a longitudinal
field plays the role of a hard-axis field and causes a
gradual transition from almost a square loop to a linear
one. This behavior is characteristic of the magneto
inductive effect. The calculated results are in a good
agreement with experimental data
1.INTRODUCTION
Magnetic properties of amorphous wires have been
extensively studied because their unique flux
reversal characteristics, such as a large
Barkhausen effect in magnetostrictive wires [l-31
and a magneto-inductive (MI) effect in nearly zero
magnetostrictive wires [ 4 ] , provide a wide range of
possible applications of these materials in various
sensors. Recently attention has been focused on
some new effects arising under cyclic magnetization
of amorphous wires in the presence of a dc
transverse field [4-71. In this paper we discuss
the effect of two fields*.at right angles on the
quasi-static magnetization processes in both
positive and negative magrletostrictive wires on the
basis of the existing domain model of amorphous
wires [ 11,[ 81.
The magnetic structure of magnetostrictive
timorphous wires has been established to be
dominated by the combined effect of the wire
geometry and residual stress induced anisotropy.
This results in a domain model with an axially
magnetized core and a radially (magnetostriction
D O ) or circularly (x<O) magnetized sheath. For a
relatively high magnetostriction I X I 210-6 the
longitudinal magnetization attributed t o the core
is characterized by a large Barkhausen jump [l],
taking place khen the driving field exceeds the
critical field, H*, for a reversal domain
nucleation. The field iP is found to decrease with
a dc current flowing through the wire.
Negative magnetostrictive wires having a
circumferential anisotropy in the sheath, can be
magnetized in this direction by the current. In
this case the field HH along the wire axis acts as
a hard-axis field. Its effect on circular %-4
hysteresis loops, which usually do not exhibit a
switching character, can be described in terms of a
reduction in the maximum value of the differential
permeability pv=dBv/dt$ as H,, is increased and a
rotational part of remagnetization grows. This
sensitive drop in permeability governed by moderate
external fields is realized in a magneto-inductive
element 171. and is expected to be relevant to
various applications.
Manuscript received February 15, 1993
Ndgoya University, Nagoya 464,
Ujikonakura, Uji 611
2. EFFECT OF Dc CURRENT ON LARGE BARKHAUSEN
DISCONTINUITY
This effect can be best illustrated by referring
to the set of quasi-dc longitudinal hysteresis
loops seen in Fig.1 in the presence of a dc current
flowing trough the amorphous wire (FsSiB with
~=25.10-6 in (a) and CoSiB with X=-3.10-6 in (b)).
For no dc current those wires exhibit a normal
large Barkhausen jump. In the presence of the
current the loops become narrowed and shifted along
If-axis as it was also observed in [ 5 ] . Besides, in
the case of Co-based wires the suppression of the
large Barkhausen jump occurs.
The effect of the current which creates a
circular magnetic field, '6, can be understood in
terms of a domain model with an axially magnetized
core.
A. Effect o f current on domain wall s t r u c t u r e
The domain boundary between two reverse
longitudinal domains has a very elongated radially
symmetrical shape [ 2 ] , as shown in Fig.2. A
circular magnetic field aligns with the tangent to
the domain wall so it can be considered as in-plane
hard-axis field. The domain wall energy 7 as a
function of '6 can be then foudd in terns of a one
dimensional problem by a standard way:
7= y 0 ( / S - h t a r c c o s ( h t ) ) ; y0=4@, (1)
ht=$/Hk, HE~K/Ms, K=310/2,
where A is the exchange constant, h t is a reduced
transverse field, u is a residual longitudinal
tension which is considered to be the only source
of anisotropy. It follows from (1) that the domain
wall energy is lowered by h t and 7=O at h ~ l ,when
the longitudinal domains disappear.
The decrease in the wall energy manifests itself
as a decrease in the nucleation field, i#. The'
field H* can be defined from the stability
condition for a reverse nuclei [9] and is
proportional to 7. Taking into account that the
transverse field pulls the magnetic moments away
from the anisotropy axis by the angle
$,=arcsin(htt), the change in P caused by b t is of
the form:
arccos(h t)
-P = - =Y
l-ht , H * , = d ( h f O ) , (2)
d o 7oComo pt
Expression (2) gives a drop in values of ttie
nucleation field with increasing transverse field.
This result is consistent with narrowed M - H loops
in Fig.1.
Another consequence of the reduction in 7 is the
dependence upon current of the domain wall length,
1 , since the latter is mainly dominated by the
balance between the magnetostatic energy and wall
energy [81:

1 - OmA
1 2-l50mA
3 - 2OOmA
FIG. 1 Quasi-dc (60 Hz) longitudinal magnetization
loops for 130 pm diameter as-quenched Fe72.5Si12.5815
and C072.5Si12.5615 amorphous wires with a dc current
as a parameter.
k l H
+ 3
I
I
FIG.^ Domain wall configuration in the inner core.
( a / 1 ) 2 1 n ( 2 1 / a - 2 )= 3ny(ht)/32aMszcos2(9,(ht)), ( 3 )
The wall length determined from ( 3 ) increases with
increasing h t . Such behavior is observed in the
experiment with a single wall propagating along the
wire in the presence of the current. The
experimental details can be found in [ 2 ] , [ 8 ] .
In Fig.3 the comparison of experimental values
of H* and 1 for FeSiB amorphous wires and those
calculated from (2),(3) is presented. The solid
curves in Fig.3 are obtained by averaging
expressions ( 2 ) ,( 3 ) over the ellipsoidal domain
boundary since the residual stress D and induced by
current field €$ are radially distributed. For both
independent measurements a fairly good agreement is
achieved with the same parameters. The analogous
comparison can be made for Co-based wires as well.
B . Magnetization r o t a t i o n stimulated by current
With increasing transverse field
rotational processes are gradually revealed. This
effect is most conspicuous if there is some
deviation of anisotropy axes from the longitudinal
direction. Co-based amorphous wires appear to
possess a high residual helical anisotropy so this
effect can be easily observed as seen in Fig.lb.
Such suppression was previously observed in [6] for
FeSiB wires held under torsion to induce a helical
anisotropy.
The average angle, a, between the wire axis
and anisotropy can be found from the shift of M-H
loops in Fig.1. As-the current is increased, the
shift field, Hb, linearly increases, as shown in
the dashed line in Fig.3a. a=60 and a=640 for FeSiB
and CoSiB amorphous wires respectively. In the case
of negative magnetostrictive wires the value of n
is surprisingly large. This result can imply that
some circumferential anisotropy exists practically
in the whole region of the wire. The calculated
longitudinal m-h (mMII/Ms, h=HII/Hk) loops for the
resultant helical anisotropy in the presence of ht
are shown in Fig.4. They qualitatively reflect the
remagnetization behavior in Co-based wires.
2525
I
0
I/-.--/'.
L. . . I -
(a)
IO0
..--I __-__
F1c.3 Normalized nucleation field IP
---
I (b)
z(;ii-0.11 0
current (mA)
100
and shift field
!fb in (a) and domain wall length 1 in (b) as functions
of a dc current. The solid lines correspond to those
calculated from (2),(3) with M~1.3.103G, x=25.10-6,
u ( rJ=o,,(r/R+( In( l-r/RJ/Z] [IO], o0=75MPa, R=65pm, a=46pm
FIG.^ Calculated hysteresis loops m-h for a helical
anisotropy (n=640) with he as a parameter.
3. EFFECT OF AXIAL FIELD ON CIRCULAR FLUX REVERSAL
Another configuration is attributed to the
circumferential anisotropy which exists in the
outer shell (or even in the whole region) of
negative magnetostrictive wires. The field Hll
applied along the wire axis fulfills the role of a
hard-axis field, and affects the circular magnetic
flux caused by a wire current creating the easy-
axis driving field, %. Fig.5 [7] shows circular
hysteresis loops for a FeCoSiB nearly zero ( I = -
10-7) magnetostrictive amorphous wire in the
presence of the axial field H , , . The loops have no
switching character. As HII is increased, the
coercivity H, and the maximum of differential
permeability pP decrease. The latter clearly
the
indicates that rotational processes are involved.
A. E f f e c t o f Ifll on c i r c u l a r easy-axis c o e r c i v i t y
In Fig.6 the domain model of negative
magnetostrictive wires is shown. In the outer shell
the field H,, is perpendicular to -domain walls.
Inside a domain it pulls magnetic vectors away from
the circular easy direction by the angle a,, SO
that the normal to the domain wall component, IUn,
appears. The calculation of the wall energy can be
reduced to a one dimensional case in the
approximation of constant mn through the domain
boundary. This assumption is justified if the ratio
Q=Ms)/2k31 [ 111 (for FeCo-composition wires
Lk500). The result for the wall energy y and
coercivity heHc/Hk is as follows:
y=yo(1-h2), h e h a l l - h t ; , h r H I I / H k (4)
From ( 4 ) it follows that the hard-axis field normal
to the domain wall plane also results in a
reduction in the wall energy, and, hence, in the
wall coercivity. The latter is consistent with
experimental data of Fig.5.
 2526
FIG.^ Circular magnetization loops for as-quenched
-
( F e o . o ~ C o o . ~ ) , ~ . ~ S i ~ ~ .(X=-O.l.
~ B ~ ~ 10-6)
I amorphous
wires with an axial external field as a parameter. The
loops are obtained with lkHz sinusoidal current.
u..
FIG.^ Domain model of negative magnetostrictive wires
with a longitudinal field.
It should be noted that in the case of the
circular magnetization of the sheath, where the
demagnetizing factor is negligible, the
remagnetization by rotation can become possible as
H,, is increased. The critical field €Prat which
the magnetization will irreversibly flip is
calculated by the well known Stoner-Wohlfarth
approach 1121. In the case of two fields at right
angles one can get:
h * p ( l-h$/3)3/2 (5)
From (5) it follows that the hard-axis field
results in a rapid decrease in a rotational
coercivity. Since negative magnetostrictive wires
are characterized by relatively low anisotropies,
the reversal can be made to 'occur by rotation as H,,
is increased and b,*(ht) becomes lower than hdht).
B. Magnetization loop calculation
Since circular magnetization loops do not
exhibit a switching character they have to be
attributed to the case of more or less randomly
oriented easy axes rather than to well defined
anisotropies. Some distribution o f easy axes
relative to the circular direction is assumes. In
this case the magnetization loop can be obtained by
averaging over elementary loops assigned to a
particular easy axis inclination by an angle a .
Such elementary loops for two symmetrical
inclinations, a and -a, and h#O are shown in
Fig.7a. The loops can be decomposed into the sum of
a reversible component, described by functions ft,
f-, and an irreversible component, described by a
magnetization jump Ami from one curve to the other
at the critical field, which equals to the minimum
of h, or h*,.
f+(a,%)=f, f-(a,$)=-f(-a,-l+,):
Ami=f(a,$)+f(-a,-$),
where a function f is a monotonic single valid
function of a , ht, %. The critical fields of the
irreversible jump are given by (4) and (5). where
the transverse to the easy axis component has to be
substituted instead of ht. In the presence of h t
the loops are shifted by hEhttg(a), their
nonhysteretic portion increases with a simultaneous
FIG.^ In (a) elementary magnetization loops a($)
calculated for a d 0 0 and at-200; be0.6. Critical
fields lm on descendent and ascendent branches are:
h+(a)=lm-(-a).
In (b) calculated %-$ magnetization loops with ht as
a parameter
drop in Ani. The result of averaging with the
Gaussian distribution for easy axis orientations a
and wall coercivities bc is presented in Fig.7b.
The set of hysteresis loops gives a gradual
transition between almost a square loop for b t 4
and a linear loop as soon as hpl. A gradual
reduction in the permeability with increasing
hard-axis field is characteristic of this behavior.
4. CONCLUSION
It was demonstrated a profound effect of a hard-
axis field on magnetization processes in amorphous
wires. First, the hard-axis field results in a
reduction in the easy-axis coercivity. Second, with
increasing hard-axis field a nonhysteretir:
rotational portion of the magnetization loops
grows. This process is' accompanied by a gradual
decrease in the permeability and has a particular
practical importance.
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