On the role of residual internal stresses and dislocations on Barkhausen noise in plastically deformed steel

Abstract The dependence of Barkhausen noise on elastic and plastic deformations, achieved in tension and in compression, has been investigated both in Armco iron and a low carbon steel. These materials exhibit quite different behaviours, especially with regard to the effect of plastic deformation: a tensile plastic deformation (>1%) induces a marked increase in Barkhausen noise for Armco iron while it induces a steep decrease in the low carbon steel. The comparison between the tensile and compressive behaviours, as well as between the elastic and plastic regimes of deformation enables us to attribute these effects to two underlying mechanisms, i.e. effect of residual internal stresses through magneto-elastic coupling and dislocation–domain wall interaction. In Armco iron, the latter mechanism seems to have the strongest influence on the Barkhausen noise, while in the low carbon steel the influence of residual internal stresses prevails.