Remanence

[3] The equivalent term residual magnetization is generally used in engineering applications.

In transformers, electric motors and generators a large residual magnetization is not desirable (see also electrical steel) as it is an unwanted contamination, for example, a magnetization remaining in an electromagnet after the current in the coil is turned off.

Sometimes the term retentivity is used for remanence measured in units of magnetic flux density.

Often a single measure of remanence does not provide adequate information on a magnet.

One way to look inside these materials is to add or subtract small increments of remanence.

The anhysteretic magnetization curve is often close to an average of the two branches of the hysteresis loop,[9] and is assumed in some models to represent the lowest-energy state for a given field.

[10] There are several ways for experimental measurement of the anhysteretic magnetization curve, based on fluxmeters and DC biased demagnetization.