Magnetically Induced Potential Noise (MINP) - A New Method for the Characterization of Magnetic Materials and for New Sensor Applications

This paper discusses a new methodology for characterizing the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials. The method uses an alternating electric current to periodically magnetize ferromagnetic materials. The periodic magnetization generates a high-frequency electric potential noise between two electrodes within the excitation circuit. The magnetically induced electric potential noise (MIPN) is related to the discontinuous processes that occur during magnetization similar to magnetic Barkhausen noise. This paper discusses the results of several experiments that measured both electric potential noise and Barkhausen noise signal. A comparison of the results showed that the MIPN correlates directly to magnetic Barkhausen noise. The MIPN signal is small when compared to Barkhausen noise, but it is still easy to measure under laboratory conditions. Therefore, MIPN could be an efficient technique for materials characterization and sensor technology, for example, as fiber stress sensors in a composite aircraft component.