A number of physical and semiempirical flux-switching models that have appeared in the literature are reviewed briefly and classified. A thin ferrite core is switched by essentially a step mmf (with short rise time T
r). Three components of the total

are distinguished and semiempirical models are proposed for each : 1) an initial elastic

spike during the rise time of

, where ε is constant in time; 2) a decaying inelastic

starting at

,
![\\dot{\\phi}_{\\rho i} = \\rho_{i}(F - F_{d}^{\\min}) \\exp [-(t - T_{r})(F - F_{d}^{\\min})/C_{i}]](/images/tex/8947.gif)
, where ρ
iand C
iare constants in time and

is the static mmf threshold; and 3) the bell-shaped, main inelastic
![\\dot{\\phi}, \\dot{\\phi} = \\dot{\\phi}_{p}{1 - [(2\\phi + \\phi_{s} - \\phi_{d})/(\\phi_{s} + \\phi_{d})]^{2}}](/images/tex/8949.gif)
, where, for given

is the peak of

is the φ value on the static

curve, and φ
sis saturation flux. Expressions involving switching parameters are given for

, and φ
d. The agreement between these models and

of a thin core is satisfactory. The main-

model is applied in a numerical analysis of three magnetic circuits: an unloaded core, a core loaded by

, and a diode, and a core-diode shift register. The agreement between computed and experimental results is satisfactory, especially if different parameters are used for computing step-

and ramp-

switching.