Mu-metal, or μ-metal, is a soft nickel–iron ferromagnetic alloy with very high permeability, which is used for shielding sensitive electronic equipment against static or low-frequency magnetic fields. The name came from the Greek letter mu (μ, ( ), which represents permeability in physics and engineering formulas.
Properties Mu-metal has several compositions. One such composition is approximately
77% nickel 16% iron 5% copper 2% chromium or molybdenum More recently, mu-metal is considered to be ASTM A753 Alloy 4 and is composed of approximately
80% nickel 12–15% iron 5% molybdenum and small amounts of various other elements such as silicon A number of different proprietary formulations of the alloy are sold under trade names such as MuMETAL, Mumetall, and Mumetal2. Mu-metal typically has relative permeability values of 80,000–100,000 compared to several thousand for ordinary steel. It is a "soft" ferromagnetic material; it has low magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction, giving it a low coercivity so that it saturates at low magnetic fields. This gives it low hysteresis losses when used in alternating current (AC) magnetic circuits. Other high-permeability nickel–iron alloys such as permalloy have similar magnetic properties; mu-metal's advantage is that it is more ductile, malleable and workable, allowing it to be easily formed into the thin sheets needed for magnetic shields. Mu-metal objects require heat treatment after they are in final form—annealing in a magnetic field in hydrogen atmosphere, which increases the magnetic permeability about 40 times. The annealing alters the material's crystal structure, aligning the grains and removing some impurities, especially carbon, which obstruct the free motion of the magnetic domain boundaries. Bending or mechanical shock after annealing may disrupt the material's grain alignment, leading to a drop in the permeability of the affected areas, which can be restored by repeating the hydrogen annealing step.
Application
Mu-metal is a soft magnetic alloy with exceptionally high magnetic permeability. The high permeability of mu-metal provides a low reluctance path for magnetic flux, leading to its use in magnetic shields against static or slowly varying magnetic fields. Magnetic shielding made with high-permeability alloys like mu-metal works not by blocking magnetic fields but by providing a path for the magnetic field lines around the shielded area. Thus, the best shape for shields is a closed container surrounding the shielded space. The effectiveness of mu-metal shielding decreases with the alloy's permeability, which drops off at both low field strengths and, due to saturation, at high field strengths. Thus, mu-metal shields are often made of several enclosures one inside the other, each of which successively reduces the field inside it. Because mu-metal saturates at relatively low fields, sometimes the outer layer in such multilayer shields is made of ordinary steel. Its higher saturation value allows it to handle stronger magnetic fields, reducing them to a lower level that can be shielded effectively by the inner mu-metal layers. Radio frequency (RF) magnetic fields above about 100 kHz can be shielded by Faraday shields: ordinary conductive metal sheets or screens which are used to shield against electric fields. Superconducting materials can also expel magnetic fields by the Meissner effect, but require cryogenic temperatures. The alloy has a low coercivity, near zero magnetostriction, and significant anisotropic magnetoresistance. The low magnetostriction is critical for industrial applications, where variable stresses in thin films would otherwise cause a ruinously large variation in magnetic properties.
Examples Mu-metal is used to shield equipment from magnetic fields. For example:
Electric power transformers, which are built with mu-metal shells to prevent them from affecting nearby circuitry. Hard disk drives, which have mu-metal backings to the magnets found in the drive to keep the magnetic field away from the disk. Cathode-ray tubes used in analogue oscilloscopes, which have mu-metal shields to prevent stray magnetic fields from deflecting the electron beam. Magnetic phonograph cartridges, which have a mu-metal case to reduce interference when phonograph records (LP) are played back. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment. The magnetometers used in magnetoencephalography and magnetocardiography. Photomultiplier tubes. Vacuum chambers for experiments with low-energy electrons, for example, photoelectron spectroscopy. Superconducting circuits and especially Josephson junction circuits. Fluxgate magnetometers and compasses as part of the sensor. Proximity sensors (inductive type)
Similar materials Other materials with similar magnetic properties include Co-Netic, supermalloy, supermumetal, nilomag, sanbold, molybdenum permalloy, Sendust, M-1040, Hipernom, HyMu-80 and Amumetal. Electrical steel is used similarly in some transformers as a cheaper, less permeable option. Ceramic ferrites are used for similar purposes, and have even higher permeability at high frequencies, but are brittle and nearly non-conductive, so can only replace mu-metals where conductivity and pliability aren't required.
History
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