Non-destructive monitoring of corrosion extent in steel rope wires via Barkhausen noise emission

Abstract This paper presents a systematic study of magnetic non-destructive evaluation of corrosion attack in rope wires via Barkhausen noise emission. Reduction of the effective cross-sectional area due to corrosion is a major factor affecting rope wire bearing capacity. To investigate the potential of Barkhausen noise technique for such purpose, wires of variable corrosion extent were measured and the correlation between the corrosion depth and Barkhausen noise parameters was analysed. It was found that Barkhausen noise parameters exhibit very good sensitivity to the variable corrosion depth. However, the evolution of the magnetic parameters saturates when the corrosion depth exceeds 300 μm. Furthermore, it was observed that Barkhausen emission arises from the wire itself as well as from the corroded layer, including a mixture of oxides and non-corroded fragments.