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Permeability of Vacuum – Magnetic Constant

In electromagnetism, permeability is the measure of the resistance of a substance against the formation of a magnetic field. The auxiliary magnetic field H represents how magnetic field B influences the organization of magnetic dipoles in a given substance. The magnetic field strength and flux density are related according to:

permeability

In this equation, B represents the magnitude of the internal field strength within a substance subjected to an H field. The permeability has dimensions of webers per ampere-meter (Wb/A.m) or henries per meter (H/m). The permeability constant μ0, also known as the magnetic constant or the permeability of free space, is a measure of the amount of resistance encountered when forming a magnetic field in a classical vacuum. This constant is very important since one of the important magnetic properties is the relative permeability (dimensionless), the ratio of the permeability in a material to the permeability in a vacuum.

relative permeability

According to the NIST reference on fundamental physical constants, the magnetic constant has the exact (defined) value

μ0 = 4π × 10−7 H/m ≈ 12.57×10−7 H/m.

A closely related property of materials is magnetic susceptibility, a dimensionless proportionality factor that indicates the degree of magnetization of a material in response to an applied magnetic field.

magnetic susceptibility

 

References:
Materials Science:
  1. U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
  2. U.S. Department of Energy, Material Science. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 2 and 2. January 1993.
  3. William D. Callister, David G. Rethwisch. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 9th Edition, Wiley; 9 edition (December 4, 2013), ISBN-13: 978-1118324578.
  4. Eberhart, Mark (2003). Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart. Harmony. ISBN 978-1-4000-4760-4.
  5. Gaskell, David R. (1995). Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Materials (4th ed.). Taylor and Francis Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56032-992-3.
  6. González-Viñas, W. & Mancini, H.L. (2004). An Introduction to Materials Science. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-07097-1.
  7. Ashby, Michael; Hugh Shercliff; David Cebon (2007). Materials: engineering, science, processing, and design (1st ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-8391-3.
  8. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.

See above:

Magnetic Properties