Britannica Sources used in this answer

What happens to a ferromagnetic material above its Curie temperature?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Learn about magnetic fields and the levels of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains — magnet Magnetic fields and the levels of magnetism of particles, atoms, crystals, and domains.

When a ferromagnetic material is heated above its Curie temperature, its spontaneous magnetization vanishes, and the material transitions into a paramagnetic state.123

This occurs because the thermal energy within the material becomes sufficient to overcome the internal forces that normally keep the atomic magnetic moments aligned. As a result, the ordered magnetic structure is disrupted, and the material retains only a weak, general magnetic behavior. If the material is subsequently cooled below its Curie temperature, the atoms spontaneously realign, and its characteristic ferromagnetic properties are restored.132