Affiliations: [a] State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Shaanxi Engineering Research Center of NDT and Structural Integrity Evaluation, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China | [b] School of Civil Engineering & Institute of Mechanics and Technology, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Zhenmao Chen, State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Shaanxi Engineering Research Center of NDT and Structural Integrity Evaluation, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, Shaanxi, China. E-mail: chenzm@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Abstract: As one typical material of nuclear power plant structure, austenitic stainless steel (SS) is often accompanied by residual stress and plastic deformation during their manufacture and application, which may affect the structure service safety. In this paper, the effects of the composite state of residual stress and plastic deformation on the pulsed eddy current testing (PECT) signals of SS are studied theoretically and experimentally. By considering the electromagnetic properties in the composite state, the PECT theory is established for the 304 SS in the composite state. The numerical simulation is completed using the reduced vector potential method and the verification experiment is also carried out. The comparison between simulation and experimental results shows that the peak value of the PECT signal increases with the increase of plastic deformation or residual stress. This means that if the residual stress is not considered in the composite state, the effectiveness of the PECT method for evaluating plastic deformation may be seriously affected.
