Topological hysteresis as a model for Rayleigh damping

To account for the large magnetomechanical damping of demagnetized specimens, we propose as a model Landau's arrangement of magnetic domains with no overall magnetic moment. To analyze the model, we use the nature of magnetostriction to transform the data from internal friction, Q−1, and strain amplitude, ɛ, into energy loss and volume fraction reoriented by stress, both as functions of ɛ. The large peak in Q−1(ɛ) above the upper end of the Rayleigh range is attributed to the onset of gross changes in the domain structure, the Rayleigh range to dynamics of closure domains on a finer scale, and the lower end of the range to the wall displacements becoming of the order of one atomic distance.