Magnetic behaviour versus tensile deformation mechanisms in a non-oriented Fe-(3 wt.%)Si steel

This study presents an extended in situ magnetic characterisation of a non-oriented (NO) Fe-(3 wt.%)Si steel. An appropriate experimental device was created and magnetic measurements were performed under uniaxial tensile stresses approaching and exceeding the macroscopic elastic limit sigma(e) and in the corresponding unloaded states. Both Barkhausen noise and B-H hysteresis loops were measured. The sensitivity to stress was found to be qualitatively similar to that of polycrystalline iron. The different stages of the tensile deformation (perfectly elastic stage, microplastic yielding stage, the two strain-hardening stages) were clearly identified by the magnetic parameters. In the plastic strain domain, the coercive field H-c and the inverse of the initial relative permeability 1/mu(r)(i) linearly increase, while the maximal relative permeability mu(r)(max) and the Barkhausen noise peak height BNmax linearly decrease with the applied stress sigma. The remnant induction B-r keeps a low and constant value. Furthermore, a linear dependence of 1/mu(r)(i), H-c, mu(r)(max) and BNmax on the kinematic hardening X was found. By using measurements on prestrained specimens under reloaded elastic stresses, an accurate identification of the effect of dislocations acting as pinning sites and of the magnetoelastic effect of long-range internal stresses was proposed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.