Effect of Magneto-Plasticity on MgO in Earth's Mantle

The presence of a magnetic field on a material creates a phenomenon called magneto-plasticity, meaning that the plasticity increases of said material. When applied to the Earth, which has a magnetic field with a dynamic history of flips and changes in magnitude, the question is if the properties of the materials in the mantle are affected by the magnetic field. The purpose of this study is to investigate if magnesium oxide (MgO), which makes up close to forty percent of the material of the mantle, experiences the magneto-plastic effect. Research has been done on magneto-plasticity in precision cutting and in soft magnetic composites (SMC). Magneto-plasticity has not been applied to the mantle specifically, but it has been observed that the mantle exhibits super plasticity, which could be the effect of the magnetic field. A simulation in ANSYS Mechanical of a magnetic field applied to a flat plate of MgO will be used to investigate this question. Answering this question would lead to a greater understanding and possibly provide an explanation for super-plasticity in Earth's mantle. After investigating the role of magneto-plasticity on MgO, the model of the mantle could be further improved by including other compounds and layers of the mantle. Increasing the accuracy of the mantle model in this way would help to determine if magneto-plasticity has a significant effect on the entirety of the mantle.