Design Guide 1 - Magnetic Head Core Material Selection

Effects of materials selection on HiCo/LoCo recording and magnetic head life

The wide range of media available for high and low coercivity recording 300 to 3500 oersted makes magnetic head core material selection important. When environmental (life) considerations are also added into the equation, material selection becomes even more critical.

For the record, ISO identifies LoCo media as up to 600 oersted, above 600 oersted is identified as HiCo media. This Design Guide will aid in selecting the correct material or combinations of materials to meet your magnetic head requirements. These requirements may vary from, low use ATM's ,100 or less transactions per day to high use turnstiles, several thousand transactions per day. Media requirements can range from 300 to 5000 oersted with the possibility that the head will need to work with several different media's in the same system 300 to 2750 oersted.

The design guide will aid in core material selection to meet your Magnetic Head requirements with the most cost effective material or combination of materials available.

Life comparisons of the various core materials have been derived from brush research and independent studies conducted by the Pennsylvania State University and Bucknell University and experience with specific high traffic turnpike transit data site locations, actual results can vary under different operating conditions.