Domains and Hysteresis

 

Any ferromagnetic or ferromagnetic material that is at a temperature below Tc is composed of small-volume regions in which there is a mutual alignment in the same direction of all magnetic dipole moments. Such a region is called a domain, and each one is magnetized to its saturation magnetization. Adjacent domains are separated by domain boundaries or walls across which the direction of magnetization gradually changes. Normally, domains are microscopic in size and for a polycrystalline specimen, each grain may consist of a single domain. Thus, in a microscopic piece  of  material,  there  will  be  large  number  of  domains  and  all  may  have  different magnetization orientations