IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO.

4, JULY 2004 2673

Examination of Electromagnetic Inspection of Surface

Hardness: 3-D Nonlinear FEM Analysis Considering
Nonuniform Permeability and Conductivity
Yuji Gotoh and Norio Takahashi, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—The inspection of surface hardness of the hardened

steel is important in keeping the quality of automobile parts, etc.
The permeability of hardened steel decreases when the hardness is
increased. Therefore, the surface hardness evaluation is possible
by detecting the difference of the magnetic characteristic using
the electromagnetic inspection method. However, the surface hard-
ness inspection is not easy, because the relative permeability and
conductivity of the hardened steel are usually nonuniform com-
pared with that of the normal steel. In this paper, the technique for
reducing the effect of the nonuniformity of the permeability and
the conductivity on the large magnetic noise, and measuring the
surface hardness is examined using three-dimensional edge-based
hexahedral finite element method. In addition, the experimental Fig. 1. Magnetization curves of hardened and normal steels [HV: Vickers
verification is also carried out. hardness (unit of hardness)].
Index Terms—Finite element method (FEM), surface hardened
steel, three-dimensional (3-D) nondestructive inspection. (3-D) edge-based hexahedral finite element method (FEM) [1],
and the experimental verification is also shown.
I. INTRODUCTION II. MEASUREMENT OF INITIAL MAGNETIZATION CURVE AND

T HE INDUCTION hardening method is used for the ex-

tensive manufacture line of automobile parts, etc. The in-
spection of surface hardness of the hardened steel is important
CONDUCTIVITY OF HARDENED STEEL
A. Measurement of Initial Magnetization Curve
in keeping the quality of machine parts, etc. The permeability of A carbon steel S45C is examined. Fig. 1 shows the magne-
hardened steel decreases when the hardness is increased. There- tization curves of hardened steel and normal steel. The perme-
fore, the surface hardness evaluation is possible by detecting the ability of hardened steel is smaller than that of the normal steel.
difference of the magnetic characteristic using the electromag- Fig. 2 shows the electromagnet for measuring the nonuniformity
netic inspection. However, the inspection is not easy, because of permeability in a hardened steel. A column specimen (diam-
the permeability and the conductivity of the hardened steel are eter:9 mm, length:180 mm) is put between pole pieces. The flux
usually nonuniform compared with that of the normal steel. As density in the hardened steel is measured using a search coil, and
a result, the electromagnetic inspection has a magnetic noise. the magnetic field is measured using the transverse type Hall
In this paper, the nondestructive inspection method of the sur- probe. The search coil and the Hall probe are moved in the di-
face hardness of hardened material by applying the alternating rection, and the nonuniformity of permeability in hardened steel
magnetic field is investigated. The initial magnetization curves is measured. Fig. 3 shows the maximum nonuniformity of per-
and conductivities of hardened steels of various kinds of hard- meability of the hardened steel.
ness are measured. The nonuniformity of conductivity of the The dispersion rate of relative permeability is defined
hardened steel is not controlled by the impressed magnetic field. by
However, the nonuniformity of permeability is reduced when
the exciting magnetic field is increased. It is shown that the rate (1)
of change of flux density by the hardness is large when the per-
meability becomes the maximum. The appropriate flux density The figure denotes that the nonuniformity of perme-
to detect the surface hardness is examined by three-dimensional ability is increased when the hardness is increased. However,
when the magnetic field is increased, is decreased, because
Manuscript received October 16, 2003. the direction of each magnetic moment becomes nearly the
Y. Gotoh is with Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Kurume National College of Technology, Fukuoka 830-8555, Japan (e-mail: same.
gotou@kurume-nct.ac.jp).
N. Takahashi is with Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, B. Measurement of Conductivity
Okayama University, Okayma 700-8530, Japan (e-mail: norio@elec.okayama-
u.ac.jp). The nonuniformity of conductivity is measured using column
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2004.829193 specimens (0 50 mm) having various hardness. A coil is
0018-9464/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE

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2674
Fig. 2. Electromagnet for measuring magnetic noise.
Fig. 3. Dispersion rate " of permeability of each hardened steel (measured).
Fig. 4. Dispersion of conductivity and relative permeability of each hardened
steel (45 Hz).
wound around the center of each hardened steel, and this is
moved by 1 mm pitch, and ac field (45 Hz) is applied. The
impedance of the coil is measured using an LCR meter. On
the other hand, the impedance is calculated for various kinds of
conductivity and permeability using 3-D axis-symmetric FEM.
Then, the nonuniformity of the conductivity and permeability in
hardened steel is evaluated using the calculated and measured
results of impedance of the coil.
Fig. 4 shows the calculated results of amplitude and phase
angle of impedance. The figure denotes that the nonuniformity
of conductivity and permeability is increased with the increase
of hardness.
III. INSPECTION METHOD AND MODELING OF NONUNIFORM
MATERIAL CHARACTERISTIC
A. Inspection Method
Fig. 5 shows a model of surface hardness inspection of hard-
ened steel. The hardened steel is magnetized using the ferrite
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004
yoke having the exciting coil. The frequency is 1 kHz. The flux
and eddy current are analyzed taking account of the nonlin-
earity of hardened steel. The time interval of the step-by-step
method is chosen as s. The ferrite is assumed to be
linear (relative permeability: 3000), and the eddy current in it is
neglected. The conditions of calculation and measurement are
shown in Table I.
B. Modeling of Nonuniform Initial Magnetization Curve and
Conductivity
The magnetization curve (Fig. 1) and conductivity (Fig. 4)
at various hardness are used for 3-D nonlinear FEM. For ex-
ample, the magnetization curves of hardness 700 HV are shown
in Fig. 6. Twenty magnetization curves with the initial perme-
ability in a 28% range are created. A curve is chosen at random
among twenty magnetization curves following normal random
number (standard deviation: 5) [2], and the selected curve is
given in each finite element in the hardened region.
Similarly, the conductivity is generated according to a normal
random number [standard deviation: ] [2] within the
range between and S/m.
IV. INVESTIGATION OF INSPECTION OF SURFACE HARDNESS
A. Effect of Nonuniformity of Permeability and Conductivity
The nonuniformity of flux density in a search coil is estimated
by calculation. The movement of yoke is simulated by shifting
the permeability and conductivity inside the hardened area in
the direction by 1-mm step. The steel of hardness 700 HV
with the largest nonuniformity of permeability and conductivity
is used for investigation. Fig. 7 shows the calculated results of
flux density in a search coil when the exciting coil is moved.
The dispersion rate of flux density is defined by
each
(2)
The figure denotes that is reduced when the magnetizing
current is increased. However, stays within a 0.3% range at
1 A. Fig. 8 shows the calculated results of at 1 kHz and 0.5 A.
The curve (a) denotes that both permeability and conductivity
are nonuniform. The curves (b) and (c) denote that only con-
ductivity or only permeability is nonuniform. The figure denotes
that the dispersion is mainly affected by only the nonunifor-
mity of conductivity.
B. Effect of AmpereTurns on Change of Flux Density
Fig. 9 shows the effect of surface hardness on the change of
flux density in a search coil. is the average value which
is obtained by moving the yoke along the surface of steel. The
change of flux density is defined by
(3)
where (245 HV) denotes the absolute value of flux density at
the hardness of 245 HV. When the magnetizing current is 0.5 A,
the change of due to the surface hardness becomes maximum.
As the measured and calculated values are in good agreement
GOTOH AND TAKAHASHI: EXAMINATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC INSPECTION OF SURFACE HARDNESS
(a)
Fig. 5. Model for surface hardness inspection (1/2 domain). (a) x
TABLE I
CONDITIONS OF CALCULATION AND MEASUREMENT
Fig. 6. Example of dispersion of H-r curves (700 HV)
Fig. 7. Effect of exciting current (1 kHz, 700 HV, calculated).
and also due to the limitation of power source, the only mea-
surement under 0.5 A is shown. We checked by experiment that
becomes maximum at nearly 0.5 A. When the magnetizing
current exceeds 0.5 A, the change of by the surface hardness
becomes small, because the change of permeability due to hard-
ness in decreased.
In the practical inspection, hardness between 600 and 700 HV
is usually examined. When 0.5 A is impressed, the change of
is about 8%. On the other hand, of a search coil has magnetic
noise of 0.3% due to the nonuniformity of conductivity. As the
change of due to hardness is larger than the noise due to
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2675
(b)
0 z plane and (b) x 0 y plane.
Fig. 8. Effect of nonuniformity of conductivity (1 kHz, 0.5 A, 700 HV,
calculated).
Fig. 9. Effect of ampere-turns on change of flux density (1 kHz).
conductivity, there is a possibility to use the proposed inspection
method in the practical application.
V. CONCLUSION
The results obtained are summarized as follows.
1) When the hardness is increased, the permeability is de-
creased and the nonuniformity of permeability and con-
ductivity is increased. When the steel is saturated, the per-
meability of various kinds of hardness becomes nearly
constant.
2) If the magnetic field that reduces the nonuniformity of the
permeability in hardened steel is applied, the nondestruc-
tive inspection of surface hardness is possible.
REFERENCES
[1] Y. Gotoh and N. Takahashi, “3-D nonlinear eddy current analysis of al-
ternating flux leakage testing-analysis of one crack and two cracks,”
IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 38, pp. 1209–1212, Mar. 2002.
[2] W. H. Press et al., Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN (Second Edi-
tion). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992.