Why Do Induction Ovens Heat Ferromagnetic Materials More Efficiently?

AI Thread Summary
Ferromagnetic materials heat more efficiently in induction ovens due to their ability to generate eddy currents and hysteresis losses when exposed to oscillating magnetic fields. The hysteresis effect, where internal magnetic domains lag behind the external field, contributes to additional heat generation, although it accounts for less than ten percent of the total heat. Induction cookers are specifically designed to work with ferromagnetic materials like iron, as non-ferromagnetic materials such as copper and aluminum do not exhibit these properties. The skin effect in ferromagnetic materials increases resistance, enhancing heating efficiency. Overall, the unique magnetic characteristics of ferromagnetic materials make them more suitable for induction heating applications.
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I do not understand why ferromagnetic materials are more easily heated by an induction oven than a non/low ferromagnetic material such as copper or aluminum.
Are Eddy currents more easily induced into a ferromagnetic material than a conductor lacking a high ferromagnetic property? Why is it so?
 
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An induction cooker for instance creates losses by magnetic hysteresis. It works only with iron pans, not copper.

Some other induction heaters are designed for other materials, work at other frequencies, and prefer simple conductive material.
 
Enthalpy said:
An induction cooker for instance creates losses by magnetic hysteresis. It works only with iron pans, not copper.

Some other induction heaters are designed for other materials, work at other frequencies, and prefer simple conductive material.
According to wikipedia,
wiki said:
In an induction cooker, a coil of copper wire is placed underneath the cooking pot. An alternating electric current flows through the coil, which produces an oscillating magnetic field. This field induces an electric current in the pot. Current flowing in the metal pot produces resistive heating which heats the food. While the current is large, it is produced by a low voltage.
and they are talking about
wiki said:
a cooking vessel must be made of a ferromagnetic metal
.
And also
wiki said:
Some additional heat is created by hysteresis losses in the pot due to its ferromagnetic nature, but this creates less than ten percent of the total heat generated
.
So this does not seem to be the answer. I'm still clueless as why a ferromagnetic material heats much faster than a non/low ferromagnetic material.
 
Possible explanations:
- Wiki botched it. It does happen.
- Losses result from induced current, but only because the skin effect increases the resistance, and the skin is made much thinner in ferromagnetic materials.
Why shouldn't you try to put some figures at it? Search for "Kelvin effect". Cookers use high frequencies, like >20kHz.
 
Ferromagnetic materials switch their internal magnetism back and forth with every switch of the external magnetic field. However the process has hysteresis, that is it is not completely reversible. The internal magnetic domains lag behind the changing external field, so the sweep back and forth describes a hysteresis loop. The larger the area in this loop the greater the loss on each cycle. This loss turns up as heat. Look up 'hysteresis loop' for graphs and further details.

This effect does not exist in non magnetic materials.
 
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