Surface and volume hysteresis loops of Fe-rich glass-coated microwires

Abstract Surface and volume hysteresis loops of the Fe 65 Si 15 B 15 C 5 alloy in the form of a single glass-coated microwire and several (2, 5 10) microwires have been measured and compared. Longitudinal Kerr effect was used for the observation of the surface hysteresis loops. Volume hysteresis loops have been measured by a fluxmetric method. Both surface and volume hysteresis loops of single samples have similar rectangular shape and coercivities. Deviations from the rectangular shape of the hysteresis loop have been observed for the case of several samples. Such effects have been interpreted as the consequence of the interaction between microwires due to the effects of the demagnetizing fields.