The Effect of Cold Working on the Magnetic Properties of Pure Metals

Abstract

Experiments with aluminum and copper of the highest purity obtainable show that the magnetic susceptibilities of these metals are appreciably altered by cold working. The paramagnetic susceptibility of aluminum is decreased by an amount reaching approximately 15 percent of the original value, and the diamagnetic susceptibility of copper is also, numerically, decreased by nearly the same amount. This strain sensitivity of susceptibility cannot be accounted for by the presence of ferromagnetic impurities, but appears to be related to certain metallurgical changes which occur on cold working. From a consideration of the magnitude of $\Delta \chi$ for different degrees of cold work and the phenomenon of "magnetic self-recovery" (observed in copper but not in aluminum), it is concluded that the combined effects of lattice distortion and fragmentation probably give rise to the observed changes in magnetic susceptibility.