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Domain wall pinning and dislocations: Investigating magnetite deformed under conditions analogous to nature using transmission electron microscopy


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Authors

Lindquist, AK 
Feinberg, JM 
Harrison, RJ 
Loudon, JC 
Newell, AJ 

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pIn this study, we deformed samples cut from a single magnetite octahedron and used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and magnetic measurements to experimentally verify earlier computational models of magnetic domain wall pinning by dislocations and to better understand the nature of dislocations in magnetite. Dislocations in magnetite have been of interest for many decades because they are often cited as a likely source of stable thermoremanent magnetizations in larger multidomain (MD) magnetite grains, so a better understanding of dislocation effects on coercivity in MD magnetite is crucial. TEM imaging shows, for the first time, domain walls sweeping through the magnetite sample and being pinned at dislocations. In agreement with theory, these findings demonstrate that domain walls are more strongly pinned at networks of dislocations than at single dislocations and that domain walls pinned at longer dislocations have higher microcoercivities than those pinned at shorter dislocations. This experimentally illustrates the ability of dislocations to increase the coercivity of larger multidomain magnetite grains. The observed values for microcoercivity and bulk coercivity are in reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations. Burgers vectors were determined for some dislocations to verify that they were in keeping with expected dislocation orientations. The dislocations were found to be primarily located on close‐packed {111} planes within the magnetite. Deformation caused only a minor change in bulk coercivity, but first‐order reversal curve diagrams show populations with increased coercivity not visible in hysteresis loops.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

magnetite, domain wall, multidomain, transmission electron microscopy, rock magnetism, dislocations

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2169-9313
2169-9356

Volume Title

120

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Sponsorship
European Research Council (320750)
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement 320750. The Institute for Rock Magnetism and LacCore are supported by the NSF EAR Instrumentation and Facilities Program and by the University of Minnesota, Earth Sciences Division, National Science Foundation. To obtain the data used for this paper, please contact A.K.L. This work was funded by EAR-0810085 to J.M.F., by EAR-0810252 to A.J.N., and by a Geological Society of America grant to A.K.L. This is IRM publication 1406.