Influence of domain walls thickness, density and alignment on Barkhausen noise emission in low alloyed steels

This study deals with the characterization of low alloyed steels of different yield strengths (varying in the range of 235–1100 MPa) via Barkhausen noise emission. The study investigates the potential of this technique to distinguish among the low alloyed steels and all significant aspects contributing to Barkhausen noise, such as the residual stress state, microstructure expressed in terms of dislocation density, grain size, prevailing phase, as well as associated aspects of the domain wall substructure (domain wall thickness, energy, their spacing and density in the matrix). Barkhausen noise in the rolling as well as transversal direction grows along with the yield strength (up to 500 MPa) and the corresponding grain refinement of ferrite. As soon as the martensite transformation occurs in a high strength matrix, this evolution saturates, and remarkable magnetic anisotropy is developed when Barkhausen noise in the transversal direction grows at the expense of the rolling direction. The contribution of residual stresses as well as the domain wall thickness is only minor, and the evolution of Barkhausen noise is driven by the density of the domain walls and their realignment.