High frequency complex permeability of iron particles in a nonmagnetic matrix

The effective permeability (mu(eff)) was measured and calculated for composites consisting of micron- or submicron-sized nanocrystalline iron particles embedded in a nonmagnetic matrix. The intrinsic permeability of iron particles was obtained from the calculation for a random spatial distribution of magnetic domains and its analytical model is derived from the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. In the calculation, each grain is assumed to be a single magnetic domain because of its nano size. The effective permeability was calculated using three methods-Bruggeman's effective medium theory, extended Bruggeman's effective medium theory with the consideration of the skin effect, and a simulation method which was developed in the present work. The skin effect was considered in our simulation work. Our simulation agrees well with the experimental data. Our work has shown clearly that the magnetic domain structure with a random spatial distribution of magnetic easy axes and the skin effect need to be considered to calculate the complex permeability of polycrystalline magnetic materials. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.