Magnetic NDT Technology for characterization of decarburizing depth

From practical point of view, determining the decarburizing depth is important in quality control of steel parts as it has undesirable effects on the mechanical properties such as hardness, wear and fatigue resistance. Traditional destructive methods of determining the depth of decarburized layer include metallographic and hardness test which are time-consuming and costly. Since response to eddy current is sensitive to chemical composition as well as microstructure of the material under consideration, the non-destructive method can be used in determining the depth of the decarburized layer in steel parts. It is mainly due to the difference in the microstructures, and as a result, in the magnetic properties of the decarburized layer with other parts of the specimen. In the present study at the first step, the magnetic properties of decarburized carbon steel bars (0.45 wt.% C) were evaluated using an electromagnetic sensor and correlated with the microstructure changes from surface to the core of the sample. At the second step the steel bars were held in 900 °C for different period of times and the depth of decarburizing layers were measured using hardness testing. Finally, the non-destructive eddy current technique was used and the response of test samples to the induction current including primary and secondary voltages, normalized impedance, phase angle and harmonic analysis parameters were investigated. Results show an acceptable accuracy in comparison to the destructive method.

Research highlights► Magnetic properties and eddy current responses of decarburized steels were studied. ► In order to determine an optimum frequency, two methods were used. ► Decarburizing depths can be determined in less than few seconds nondestructively.