Postbuckling Analysis of a Magnetoelastic Beam

The initial postbuckling behavior of an elastic ferromagnetic beam in a transverse magnetic field is studied. The cantilever beam is found to be imperfection-sensitive. Imperfections due to deviations from straightness of the beam and due to misalignment of the field with the normal to the beam are investigated. Reductions of the buckling field due to initial curvature of the beam are not sufficient to account for the two-to-one discrepancy between recorded theoretical and experimental results. However, reductions of 50 percent or more are readily produced by misalignment.