A newly designed demagnetization furnace for paleomagnetic thermal
treatment with highly attenuated inside magnetic field intensity
Abstract
Thermal demagnetization furnaces are routine facilities that underpin
countless paleomagnetic studies by allowing the progressive removal of
naturally acquired magnetic remanence or the imparting of well
controlled laboratory magnetization. The ideal thermal demagnetizer
should maintain “zero” magnetic field during thermal treatments.
However, magnetic field noise, including residual magnetic fields of
material used to construct the furnace and induced fields caused by the
heating current in the furnace are always present. As technology
advances allowing the measurement of ever weaker magnetic remanences, it
is essential that high-performance demagnetization furnaces are
developed to reduce these sources of magnetic field noise. By combining
efficient demagnetization of shielding and a new structure of heating
wire, we have developed a new demagnetization furnace with low magnetic
field noise. Repeated progressive thermal demagnetization experiments
using specimens that were previously completely thermally demagnetized
above their Curie temperature were carried out to explore the effects of
fields within various types of furnace during demagnetization. These
experiments confirm that magnetic field noise in various furnaces can
have an observable and detrimental impact on demagnetization behavior
and that this is reduced with our new design. The new heating element
design and procedure for reducing magnetic field noises represent a
significant improvement in the design of thermal demagnetizers and
allows for extremely weak specimens to be successfully measured.