Temperature and irradiation dependence of magnetic and mechanical properties of soft magnetic materials

All magnetic properties of engineering materials are temperature dependent to varying degrees. This is to be expected since their intrinsic saturation magnetisation, magnetostriction and magnetocrystalline anisotropy are all temperature sensitive. These determine the domain structure within a magnetic material, hence the magnetic properties at any temperature. This chapter summarises the temperature dependence of structure insensitive magnetic properties of important soft magnetic materials. This is followed by a presentation of temperature characteristics of structure sensitive properties of some families of commercial soft magnetic materials. The chapter concludes with sections covering low temperature characteristics, approaches to modelling temperature effects, possible effects of temperature gradients in magnetic cores and the general effects of irradiation on magnetic properties.