Magnetic Heat Capacity Characterization of Magnetite

We investigate the magnetic and thermal properties of magnetite using both vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and heat capacity measurement. Magnetite undergoes the Verwey transition, which is a structural phase transition near 120 K. The magnetization behavior vs. temperature differs between field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) measurements in the VSM, due to the preferential alignment of the magnetic spin moments with respect to applied magnetic field. The application of magnetic field also contributes to an enhancement in the heat capacity. In this study, we investigate the behavior of the heat capacity of different specimens of magnetite under these FC and ZFC conditions.