Anisotropy field distribution in soft magnetic Hitperm alloys submitted to different field annealing processes

The magnetic anisotropy field distribution is discussed for Hitperm alloys annealed under different field conditions leading to different induced magnetic anisotropies: zero (ZF), transversal (TF), and longitudinal (LF) field annealing and compared to that of as-quenched (AQ) melt-spun amorphous ribbon. In order to accurately use the present method, the demagnetizing factor has been obtained by analyzing the field dependence of the inverse of the field derivative of the magnetization. The coherence of the analysis is supported by testing the normalization of the complete distribution of anisotropy fields. Independently of the composition, two groups can be distinguished among the studied samples: those with mainly perpendicular anisotropy field contributions (ZF and TF samples) and those with mainly longitudinal anisotropy field contributions (LF and AQ samples). Behavior of TF samples is well reproduced using Stoner-Wohlfarth model and, in the case of as-quenched amorphous samples, the anisotropy field depends almost linearly on the thickness of the ribbon. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.