Barkhausen noise characterisation during elastic bending and tensile-compression loading of case-hardened and tempered samples

This study examined the Barkhausen noise (BN) response of carburising case-hardened steel with varying tempering stages. The test material was loaded in bending and in alternating loading. The aim of the study was to obtain relevant multiparameter BN data from different loading conditions and to investigate the effect of applied stress on the BN response. The test bar series was made from case-hardened steel. Different tempering parameters were used to vary the surface hardness and the surface residual stresses of the studied series of test bars. In the bending tests, the samples were subjected to incrementally applied loading in the purely elastic deformation region. In addition, uniaxial stepwise loading with tensile and compressive stress was applied to selected samples simultaneously with the BN measurements. The BN measurements were performed under different loading conditions along with X-ray diffraction strain measurements in bending. The results revealed linear behaviour between the reciprocal root mean square value and the stress values obtained with strain gages and X-ray diffraction for the tempered samples.