On the importance of magnetic material characterization for the design of particle accelerator magnets

In this paper, the importance of magnetic material measurements in the framework of the design of magnets for particle accelerator is discussed. In particular, five samples of different ferromagnetic materials are analyzed experimentally and compared with literature results. These materials have been (or will be) used for producing yokes for several normal-conductor magnets at CERN, such as REX-ISOLDE main dipole, ELENA dipole and quadrupole, and SESAME dipole. The comparison with literature shows several disagreements. The main one of them is analyzed in detail in a case study based on finite elements simulation of a quadrupole magnet installed in CERN. This analysis shows that a good knowledge of the yoke initial magnetization curve is important to guarantee a given level of magnet performance, especially concerning its field quality.