Anomalous demagnetization process at very low temperature in Nd-Fe-B magnets

Abstract
Both Nd15Fe77B8 and Sm(CoCu)5 sintered magnets have been reported to exhibit staircase hysteresis loops with giant Barkhausen jumps below about 10 K. The pattern is reproducible at a fixed temperature. Here the observation of heat pulses associated with the magnetization jumps in Nd15Fe77B8 magnets is reported. The origin of these Barkhausen jumps in sintered magnets is discussed as a two‐stage trigger/propagation process. The first stage may be dominated by magnetization reversal in volumes of δ3, where δ is the domain‐wall thickness, as in the magnetic after effect, whereas the second stage reflects thermally induced domain‐wall motion facilitated by the small lattice specific heat below about 10 K.