Investigation of nuclear reactor steel by magneto-acoustic emission method

At KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute, Budapest, investigations are being done for studying how steel material of nuclear reactors degrade. A micromagnetic analyser has been built to measure different magnetic parameters and response functions to magnetic excitation. The paper gives a short overview on the magneto-acoustic emission effect and its potential to assess steel properties. Some of the calibrations executed by the authors in the framework of an Indian-Hungarian research cooperation are presented. Magneto-acoustic measurements have been performed on specimens cut from nuclear pressure vessel material blocks and on broken Charpy specimens to compare the micromagnetic responses with the measured mechanical properties. (author)