This Jan 2012 article has been copied from my VK1OD.net web site which is no longer online. It is for reference from other related articles. The article may contain links to articles on that site and which are no longer available.
One often wants to identify the type of material used in a ferrite core for use at radio frequencies. This article captures advice that the author has offered in online fora stretching back more than a decade, yet it seems uncommon knowledge.
The most common method is to make some measurements to determine the initial permeability µi, usually at audio frequencies, and to compare that to a table of µi for common core materials. This method might well indicate several mixes that have similar µi, but each may be quite different at higher frequencies.
The suitability for use at RF usually depends much more on complex permeability at radio frequencies than it does on µi at say 10kHz.
Above is a plot from the Fair-rite data book showing the complex permeability characteristic of #43 ferrite material. Continue reading Identifying ferrite materials