What is a magnetic flux?

Magnetic flux is the number of lines of force or the amount of magnetic field produced by a magnetic source. The symbol for the magnetic flux is the Greek letter “phi’ and is measured in webers (Wb). If we know the amount of the magnetic flux and the size of the area we can easily calculate the magnetic flux density with the formula B=Φ/A.  The magnetic flux density (B) is measured in tesla (T). Permeability is calculated by dividing the produced magnetic flux density by the magnetic field strength and is measured in units of Henry per meter (H/m)

Flux density is the magnetic flux per unit cross-sectional area of the magnet. The intensity of the magnetic flux density is affected by the intensity of the magnetic field. The relationship between flux density and the magnetic field strength is written as:

B = µH

B is the flux density, H is the magnetic field strength, and µ is the magnetic permeability of a material. When produced in a full B/H curve, it is apparent that the direction in which H is applied affects the graph. The maximum permeability is the point where the slope of the B/H curve for the unmagnified material is the greatest. This point is often taken as the point where a straight line from the origin is tangent to the B/H curve. When values B and H are zero, the material is completely demagnetized. As the values increase, the graph curves steadily until it reaches a point where the increase in magnetic field strength has a negligible effect on the flux density. The point at which the value for B levels out is called a saturation point, meaning that the material has reached its magnetic saturation.