Monitoring techniques are in demand in high temperature metal processing environments such as steel manufacturing facilities or foundries. Important processes that affect the quality of the final product are often carried out under high temperature conditions, and the materials can reach temperatures ranging from 600 to 1500 degrees C. Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) can provide non-contact measurements, and is suitable for measurements in high temperature. Conventional EMAT uses rare-earth based magnets such as Nd or Sm-Co base ones for its bias magnetic sources, but the operation temperature of these types of magnets are limited by their Curie points. Recently, pulsed electromagnet EMAT which uses iron yoke is developed [1], and it is confirmed that this EMAT can be used up to 600 degrees C. However, to use it in higher temperature, it is supposed that the Curie point of iron yoke becomes a problem.

This study proposes an EMAT that uses an air-cored pulsed electromagnet to overcome the Curie temperature limitations of these devices. For the purpose, we design the air-cored electromagnet, which can apply a sufficiently high magnetic field, and fabricate a prototype EMAT using high temperature materials as shown in Fig. 1. To evaluate the performance of the proposed EMAT, pulse-echo waveforms are measured under high temperature conditions. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signals, the pulse-echo waveform is discussed in the frequency. As a result, the echo signals are successfully obtained over the temperature range from RT to 700 degrees C, and the reduction of shear wave velocity with increasing temperature is confirmed as shown in Fig. 2.

This work was performed with partial support from a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (grant no. 24656080) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and from the JSPS Core-to-Core Program, A. Advanced Research Networks, “International research core on smart layered materials and structures for energy saving”.