Effect of Tensile Stress on the Behavior of Iron–Silicon Single Crystal: Magnetization, Magnetostriction, and Magnetic Barkhausen Noise

This study investigates the magneto-elastic behavior of Iron-Silicon single crystals with predetermined crystallographic orientations. For that purpose, multi-crystalline samples with a large single-crystal in their central area were cut from a large-grain high-permeability electrical steel. The samples were subjected to tensile stress. Three complementary characterization techniques were employed to explore the effect of stress on the magnetization mechanisms: classical hysteresis loops to analyze the global magnetic response, magnetic Barkhausen noise measurements to study local magnetic domain dynamics and pinning effects, and magnetostriction measurements to quantify strain behavior and shed light on the magneto-elastic coupling. The comparative analysis reveals the intricate relationships between magnetic and mechanical properties, emphasizing the role of microstructural features such as crystallographic orientation in the magnetization process. These findings can help in the definition of optimal non-destructive testing (NDT) conditions for stress observation. For instance, the accumulation of magnetic Barkhausen noise energy up to saturation is revealed as a promising indicator for indirectly assessing stress in ferromagnetic materials.