PNNL

Abstract

A prototypical ferritic/martensitic alloy, HT-9, of interest to the nuclear materials community was investigated for microstructure effects on Barkhausen noise emission and first-order reversal curve (FORC) analysis for three different heat-treated samples. It was observed that Barkhausen noise emission and reversible component of magnetization, computed from the FORC data, decreased with increasing measured mechanical hardness. The results are discussed in terms of the use of magnetic signatures for use in nondestructive interrogation of radiation damage and other microstructural changes in ferritic/martensitic alloys. FORC analysis is shown to be particularly useful for detailed characterization of defect density and pinning, which can be correlated to bulk non-destructive evaluation field measurements such as Barkhausen noise emission.