What Is Curie Temperature?
Magnetics Definition - What Is Curie Temperature?
Magnetics
The Curie temperature is an essential concept in magnetism, indicating the maximum operating temperature that any particular magnetic material can reach without losing its magnetic properties. It was named for French physicist Pierre Curie who first established laws relating magnetic properties to temperature back in 1895. Different magnetic materials have different Curie temperatures; knowing yours in order to prevent demagnetization at higher temperatures.
Magnetism is a natural phenomenon in which atoms in certain materials behave as tiny magnets and align themselves within microscopic regions called domains of that material, creating magnetic moments which act to reinforce or cancel each other depending on the material type; iron displays ferromagnetism with all magnetic moments aligning in one direction while nickel and cobalt also exhibit it; electromagnets make use of this magnetic attraction to produce electric currents with strong magnetic fields.
Material becomes magnetic only when its atomic magnets are aligned forcibly by external fields (such as an electric current). This process, known as induced magnetism, must occur for metals to become permanent magnets. Earth has an unusual magnetic core because its liquid iron core contains random alignment of atoms forced together by its rotation's magnetic field and rotational rotation itself.
There is, however, a point at which these alignments become irreversible and magnetic materials lose their magnetism - this point is known as Curie temperature; this refers to when ferromagnetic materials change into paramagnetics. Understanding these boundaries when working with magnetics is paramount - crossing them may result in permanent demagnetization of our magnets.
Lower temperatures make it easy to align magnetic moments in any material, creating magnets. At higher temperatures, however, random thermal movements of atoms in the material misalign these magnetic moments and reduce their strength; consequently, magnets lose their magnetic pull.
Curie temperature plays an essential role in many applications, from magnet manufacturing and medical device use, to protecting data stored on magnetic hard drives. Magnetic hard drives depend on a high Curie temperature to retain their magnetism in high-temperature environments. Once a hard drive reaches its Curie temperature limit, all magnetism stored will be permanently lost and irreparably irretrievable. Understanding the Curie temperature of magnetic storage media to protect it and ensure no data loss when using hard drives will be of paramount importance to many users of magnetic products and services. Acquiring knowledge of these temperatures will allow companies to effectively maintain their equipment, prolonging its usefulness in future.