steel and nickel when heated up to high temperatures were those of J. Hopkinson (Phil. Trans., 1889, 180, 443; Proc. Roy. Soc., 1888, 44, 317). The metal to be tested was prepared in the form of a ring, upon which were wound primary and secondary coils of copper wire insulated with asbestos. The primary coil carried the magnetizing current; the secondary, which was wound inside the other, could be connected either with a ballistic galvanometer for determining the induction, or with a Wheatstone’s bridge for measuring the resistance, whence the temperature was calculated. The ring thus prepared was placed in a cast-iron box and heated in a gas furnace. The following are the chief results of Hopkinson’s experiments: For small magnetizing forces the magnetization of iron steadily increases with rise of temperature till the critical temperature is approached, when the rate of increase becomes very high, the permeability in some cases attaining a value of about 11,000; the magnetization then with remarkable suddenness almost entirely disappears, the permeability falling to about 1.14. For strong magnetizing forces (which in these experiments did not exceed H = 48.9) the permeability remains almost constant at its initial value (about 400), until the temperature is within nearly 100° of the critical point; then the permeability diminishes more and more rapidly until the critical point is reached and the magnetization vanishes. Steel behaves in a similar manner, but the maximum permeability is not so high as in iron, and the fall, when the critical point is approached, is less abrupt. The critical temperature for various samples of iron and steel ranges from 690° C. to 870° C.; it is the temperature at which Barrett’s “recalescence” occurs. The critical temperature for the specimen of nickel examined (which contained nearly 5% of impurities) was 310° C. F. Lydall and A. W. Pocklington found that the critical temperature of nearly pure iron was 874° C. (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1893, 52, 228).
An exhaustive research into the effects of heating on the magnetic properties of iron has been carried out by D. K. Morris (Proc. Phys. Soc., 1897, 15, 134; and Phil. Mag., 1897, 44, 213), the results being embodied in a paper containing twelve pages of tables and upwards of 120 curves. As in Hopkinson’s experiments, ring magnets were employed; these were wound with primary and secondary coils of insulated platinum wire, which would bear a much higher temperature than copper without oxidation or fusion. A third platinum coil, wound non-inductively between the primary and the secondary, served to carry the current by which the ring was heated; a current of 4.6 amperes, with 16 volts across the terminals, was found sufficient to maintain the ring at a temperature of 1150° C. In the ring itself was embedded a platinum-thermometer wire, from the resistance of which the temperature was determined. The whole was wrapped in several coverings of asbestos and placed in a glass vessel from which the air was partially exhausted, additional precautions being taken to guard against oxidation of the iron.
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| Fig. 27. |
Some preliminary experiments showed the striking difference in the effects of annealing at a red heat (840° C.) and at a low white heat (1150° C). After one of the rings had been annealed at 840°, its maximum permeability at ordinary temperatures was 4000 for H = 1.84; when it had been subsequently annealed at 1150°, the maximum permeability rose to 4680 for H = 1.48, while the hysteresis loss for B= ±4000 was under 500 ergs per c.cm. As regards the effects of temperature, Morris’s results are in general agreement with those of Hopkinson, though no doubt they indicate details with greater clearness and accuracy. Specimens of curves showing the relation of induction to magnetic field at various temperatures, and of permeability to temperature with fields of different intensities, are given in figs. 27 and 28. The most striking feature presented by these is the enormous value, 12,660, which, with H = 0.153, is attained by the permeability at 765° C., followed by a drop so precipitous that when the temperature is only 15° higher, the value of the permeability has become quite insignificant. The critical temperatures for three different specimens of iron were 795°, 780°, and 770° respectively. Above these temperatures the little permeability that remained was found to be independent of the magnetizing force, but it appeared to vary a little with the temperature, one specimen showing a permeability of 100 at 820°, 2.3 at 950°, and 17 at 1050°. These last observations are, however, regarded as uncertain. The effects of temperature upon hysteresis were also carefully studied, and many hysteresis loops were plotted. The results of a typical experiment are given in the annexed table, which shows how greatly the hysteresis loss is diminished as the critical temperature is approached. The coercive force at 764°.5 is stated to have been little more than 0.1 C.G.S. unit; above the critical temperature no evidence of hysteresis could be obtained.
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| Fig. 28. |
| Hysteresis Loss in Ergs per c.cm. Max. H. = ±6.83. | |||
| Temp. C.° | Ergs. | Temp. C.° | Ergs. |
| 764.5 | 120 | 457 | 2025 |
| 748 | 328 | 352 | 2565 |
| 730 | 426 | 249 | 3130 |
| 695 | 797 | 137.5 | 3500 |
| 634 | 1010 | 24 | 3660 |
| 554 | 1345 | ||
A paper by H. Nagaoka and S. Kusakabe[1] generally confirms Morris’s results for iron, and gives some additional observations for steel, nickel and cobalt. The magnetometric method was employed, and the metals, in the form of ovoids, were heated by a specially designed burner, fed with gas and air under pressure, which directed 90 fine jets of flame upon the asbestos covering the ovoid. The temperature was determined by a platinum-rhodium and platinum thermo-junction in contact with the metal. Experiments were made at several constant temperatures with varying magnetic fields, and also at constant fields with rising and falling temperatures. For ordinary steel the critical temperature, at which magnetization practically disappeared, was found to be about 830°, and the curious fact was revealed that, on cooling, magnetization did not begin to reappear until the temperature had fallen 40° below the critical value. This retardation was still more pronounced in the case of tungsten-steel, which lost its magnetism at 910° and remained non-magnetic till it was cooled to 570°, a difference of 240°. For nearly pure nickel the corresponding temperature-difference was about 100°. This phenomenon is of the same nature as that first discovered by J. Hopkinson for nickel-steel. The paper contains tables and curves showing details of the magnetic changes, sometimes very complex, at different temperatures and with different fields. The behaviour of cobalt is particularly noticeable; its permeability increased with rising temperature up to a maximum at 500°, when it was about twice as great as at ordinary temperatures, while at 1600°, corresponding to white heat, there was still some magnetization remaining.
Further contributions to the subject have been made by K. Honda and S. Shimizu,[2] who experimented at temperatures ranging from −186° to 1200°. As regards the higher temperatures, the chief point of interest is the observation that the curve of magnetization for annealed cobalt shows a small depression at about 450°, the temperature at which they had found the sign of the length-change to be reversed for all fields. In the case of all the metals tested a small but measurable trace of magnetization remained after the so-called critical temperature had been exceeded; this decreased very slightly up to the highest temperature reached (1200°) without undergoing any such variation as had been suspected by Morris. When the curve after its steep descent has almost reached the axis, it bends aside sharply and becomes a nearly horizontal straight line; the authors suggest that the critical temperature should be defined as that corresponding to the point of maximum curvature. As thus defined the critical temperatures for iron, nickel and cobalt were
