Measurement of electromagnetic properties of power station steels

Accurate measurement of electromagnetic properties of steels is of significant importance as EM properties are indicative of microstructure and hence properties of the material. In this paper, we present the measurement of cylindrical power station steel samples in different microstructural states representative of their initial condition and after service exposure. Cylindrical air cored sensors were used. Analytical and numerical methods (Finite Elements Methods) were employed to calculate the sensor response of these samples. Experimental results were obtained for a range of samples and their electromagnetic properties inferred by fitting finite element models to the measured results. In addition, sensitivity and error analysis were carried out to evaluate the accuracy of the method.