Ferromagnetism is a phenomenon by which a material can exhibit a spontaneous magnetization: a net
magnetic moment in the absence of an external
magnetic field. More recently: a material is ferromagnetic, only if all of its magnetic ions add a positive contribution to the net
magnetization (for differentiation to ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials). If some of the magnetic ions subtract from the net
magnetization (if they are partially anti-aligned), then the material is ferrimagnetic. If the ions anti-align completely so as to have zero net
magnetization, despite the magnetic ordering, then it is an antiferromagnet. All of these
alignment effects only occur at temperatures below a certain critical temperature, called the Curie temperature (for ferromagnets and ferrimagnets) or the NĂ©el temperature (for antiferromagnets). Typical
ferromagnetic materials are iron, cobalt, and nickel.
In
MRI ferromagnetic objects, even very small ones, as
implants or incorporations distort the
homogeneity of the main
magnetic field and cause
susceptibility artifacts.