Electron beam welding

Electron beam welding (EBW) is a specialist metal joining technique used to create high integrity joints with minimal distortion.

Benefits

• Low heat input for the welded parts;
• Minimal distortion;
• Narrow melt zone (MZ) and narrow heat affected zone (HAZ);
• Deep weld penetration from 0.05 mm to 200 mm (0.002” to 8”) in single pass;
• High welding speed;
• Welding of all metals even with high thermal conductivity;
• Welding of metals with dissimilar melting points;
• Vacuum process yields in clean and reproducible environment;
• Natural welding process for oxygen greedy materials such as titanium, zirconium and niobium;
• Machine process guaranteed for reliability and reproducibility of the operating conditions;
• Cost-effective welding process for large production in automatic mode; and
• Parts can mostly be used in the as welded condition – no sub-machining required.

Application & materials

• Aerospace
  • Jet engine components
  • Parts of structures
  • Transmission parts
  • Sensors
• Power generation
• Space
  • Titanium tanks
  • Sensors
• Vacuum systems
• Medical
• Automotive
  • Transmission parts
  • Gears
  • Parts of turbocharger
• Electrical/electronic industries
  • Parts in copper material
• Nuclear
  • Fuel housing
  • Parts of structure
  • Valves
  • Instrumentations
• Research centres
  • Copper parts
  • Superconductivity material components
• Miscellaneous

• All metals even with high thermal conductivity
  • Steel and stainless steel
  • Aluminium and alloys
  • Copper and alloys
  • Nickel alloys and refractory metals
  • Titanium and alloys
  • Zr, Mo, Ta, Hf, W, Nb, etc
• Welding of metals with dissimilar melting points
  • Copper to steel
  • Copper to nickel alloys
  • Steel to nickel alloys
  • Tantalum to tungsten

Process details

Electron Beam Welding is a method which uses a focussed stream of high energy electrons generated by a filament and directed to the joint requiring to be welded. The heating is very localised and the bulk of the assembly therefore remains cold and stable. This results in a very narrow weld with a minimal heat affected zone. There is no need to use filler metal as the parent metal of the assembly is melted. As this is a line of sight method it is not possible to weld around corners or re-entrant angles. Weld depths of up to 30mm can be produced and computer controls ensure minimal operator dependence, thus providing good reproducibility throughout a batch of components, even though this is a piece part process. Since the heat input is very localised it is possible to weld together previously heat treated components, which is a very economical method for producing composite gear shafts, with for example a case hardened gear on a hardened and tempered shaft.