Will an oscillating magnetic field penetrate a stainless steel tube?

marson

I am a chemical engineer, not a physicist, so I am a bit rusty on my electromagnetics.

I need to set up a fluctuating magnetic field inside of a stainless steel tube (hopefully using a pair of electromagnets outside the tube), and I am wondering if the field will penentrate through the tube. I imagine that within some frequency range of oscillation the tube will act as an antenna, but assuming I am below that frequency, will it work?

The tube has 10mm ID and 1mm wall thickness and contains water.

Thanks in advance for any input.

marcusl

The tube may attenuate the AC field due to eddy currents, depending on the tube configuration, field geometry, and frequency. If the field is transverse, the calculation is non-trivial. If it is axial, approximate formulas are available. You'll need to know the conductivity of the metal (this can be looked up if you know the stainless's type designator). If the water is conductive (saline), that will affect things as well.

marson

Thanks for the info. I set up a simple test with a permanent magnet, and it works just fine. So, I am hoping that with a field oscillating at sufficiently low frequency I will get similar behavior.