Molecular magnetic materials have become flourishing fields for research and technological developments due to their novel behavior compared to classical magnetic materials. Molecular magnetism modeling has reached a certain degree of maturity, although several experimental findings are still open problems. This chapter is aimed at providing a general introduction to physical modeling in molecular materials with a special emphasis placed on spin crossover compounds. This presentation includes Ising-type models and their generalizations, such as Wajnflasz and Pick, Bousseksou et al., Zimmermann and König, Sorai and Seki, and Nasser et al., along with their applications to the characterization of phase transition, hysteresis behavior, and thermal relaxations in spin crossover compounds. Recent experimental findings are explained in this context and the relevance of theoretical results for technological applications is also discussed.
Part of the book: Magnetic Materials