A thermodynamically consistent model for magnetic hysteresis

• A constitutive model is proposed within the framework of thermodynamic principles.
• The basic structure of formulation is originated from the rate-dependent plasticity.
• Decomposition of the magnetic flux into reversible and irreversible parts is assumed.
• Constitutive model reproduces the frequency dependency of magnetic hysteresis.

A phenomenological constitutive model is presented to describe the magnetization curve within the context of thermodynamics. Due to the phenomenological analogy between the magnetic hysteresis and the stress hysteresis, the basic structure of the proposed model comes from rate-dependent plasticity in continuum mechanics, namely viscoplasticity. The total magnetic flux density is assumed to be the sum of reversible and irreversible parts. The model introduces the evolution laws of two internal state variables to incorporate the effect of the ever-changing internal microstructure on the current state. The conception originated from viscoplasticity enables the frequency dependence of the hysteresis curve to be modeled.