Particle Size Dependence of Coercivity and Remanence of Single-Domain Particles

The coercive force and remanence of essentially spherical iron and iron-cobalt alloy particles with diameters from 20 to 3000 Å have been measured at 4°, 76°, and 207°K and compared to the theoretically predicted behavior. The remanence shows a broad, plateau-like maximum while the coercive force has a rather sharp maximum. The maximum of the coercive force occurs at a much larger particle diameter than the maximum of the remanence. It is shown that these essential characteristics follow from the theory. Deviations from theory are seen in the smaller size range and can be accounted for by the distribution of particle sizes. A general treatment of the coercive force of mixtures of thermally stable, high coercive force particles with superparamagnetic and multidomain particles is given.