Any substance which has the property of being attracted by or attracting the magnet is known as magnetic material.

On the basis of magnetic properties, all materials may be divided into three classes:
ferro-magnetic, pata-magnetic an dia-magnetic.

(a)    Ferro-magnetic. The materials, which are strongly arrested by a magnet such as iron, steel, nickel, cobalt and some of their alloys, are known as ferro-magnetic materials. Their relative permeability is very high (varying form serial hundreds to several thousands).

(b)    Para magnetic. The materials, which are not strongly attracted by a magnet, such as aluminum, tin, platinum, magnesium, manganese etc. are known as Para-magnetic materials. Their relative permeability is slightly higher than unity. These are slightly magnetized when placed in a strong magnetic field and act in the direction of the magnetic field.

(c)    Dia-magnetic. The materials, which are repelled by a magnet, such as zinc, mercury, lead, sulphur, copper, silver etc. are known as diamagnetic. Their relative permeability is slightly less than unity. These are slightly magnetized when placed in a strong magnetic field and act in the opposite direction of the magnetic field.

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