Vector model for the study of hysteresis under stress

A vector model of magnetic hysteresis in biaxial anisotropy structures is p resented, in which magnetoelastic effects are explicitly taken into account . The magnetization vector of individual grains is forced to lie along one of the easy axis, and jumps from one easy direction to another one controll ed by the sum of the external field and magnetoelastic energy. Hysteresis e ffects are described by an energy barrier opposing magnetization switching and the total response of the system is obtained by averaging the local mag netization over all grains. Model predictions are compared with experimenta l results on the hysteresis properties of Si-Fe alloys under compressive st ress. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)15008-X].