First order reversal curve studies of permanent magnets

First order reversal curve (FORC) diagrams are a useful tool to analyze the magnetization processes in magnetic materials. FORC diagrams are computed from measured first order reversal curves on sintered Nd2Fe14B magnets. It is shown that the FORC diagram simplifies if the first order reversal curves a desheared using the macroscopic demagnetizing field given by the geometry of the sample. Furthermore the resulting FORC diagram is almost identical to the FORC diagram measured for a thin platelet of the same material. This opens the possibility to compare experimental FORC diagrams with FORC diagrams computed by micromagnetic simulations. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3678434]