Development of a Method to Identify in-Plane Anisotropy Axes in Soft Magnetic Materials Using a Standard Vibrating Sample Magnetometer

A method of identifying in-plane anisotropy axes in soft magnetic materials has been developed using an in-field-only measurement technique. The method is based on an extended bi-axial vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) technique that simulates the torque on a sample; giving rise to equivalent torque curves that are comparable with those determined directly using a torque magnetometer. Testing of the new methodology was carried out on magnetically soft and multi-axial nickel ferrite textured films deposited with various crystal orientations. The results compare well with the accepted bi-axial VSM technique, identifying the same in-plane anisotropy directions and relative easy and hard axes from the in-field measurement alone. This means that these characteristics could be determined using a standard VSM measuring magnetization in the field direction as long as it is fitted with a rotating sample stage.