Helical anisotropy and magnetoimpedance of CoFeSiB wires under torsional stress

Recent measurements of the magnetoimpedance (at a fixed frequency of I MHz) of cobalt-rich wires subjected to torsion stress show an asymmetry as a function of torsion angle stemming from residual anisotropies induced during wire fabrication. We interpret these measurements with a simple model based on the competition between a circumferential magnetic anisotropy and another one induced by torsional or residual stress. This allows extraction of the physical parameters of the wire and explains the positive and negative torsion cases. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results provides a firm support for the model describing the behavior of the anisotropy field versus static magnetic field for all torsion angles. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.