Hydrogen attack characterisation by magnetic measurements

The security of energy supply and sustainable and safe energy production are two main research topics of the Institute for Energy of the Joint Research Center. To lower the risks, for people and the environment, involved in fuel production and petroleum refining, studies and tests are carried out at the Institute on the degradation of low-alloy ferritic steel under petrorefinery service simulated conditions. In this frame, and for industrial purposes, a reliable assessment of damage level by means of non-destructive techniques is a key factor. This paper presents the results of magnetic measurements, in particular the Barkhausen method, on ferritic steels previously exposed to service simulated conditions, and in air. The results show a good potential for this magnetic method to detect changes due to the exposure of the steels to the different environments and, in particular, the degree of damage due to hydrogen attack. A correlation between the results of magnetic and hardness measurements is currently under investigation, but not yet presented in this outline.