Stability tests of permanent magnets built with strontium ferrite

Abstract

Permanent magnets built using strontium ferrite bricks have been tested for stability against demagnetization. Ten test dipoles were built to monitor ferrite behavior under a variety of stressing conditions, including irradiation, mechanical shock, extreme thermal excursions, and long term magnetization stability. The test magnets were geometrically similar to, but much shorter than, the magnets built for the 8 GeV transfer line at FNAL. No loss of magnetization was observed for bricks exposed to a proton beam, and a magnet exposed to several Gigarads of Co/sup 60/ gamma radiation suffered no measurable demagnetization. The magnet strength was observed to decrease logarithmically with time, consistent with the expected effect of thermal fluctuations. Irreversible demagnetization of /spl sim/0.1% was seen in cooling magnets to 0/spl deg/C, and the loss was /spl sim/0.2% for magnets cooled to /spl sim/20/spl deg/C. No additional demagnetization was seen on subsequent cycling to 0/spl deg/C. Finally, one of the long dipoles built for the 8 GeV line was periodically tested over the course of 3 months, and showed no measurable demagnetization.