Electron Beam Welding Process – Equipment’s, Working Principle with
Diagram
Electron Beam Welding Process is a fusion welding process in which a high-velocity
electron beam is used to join two metals together. The high-velocity electron beam
when strikes the weld area of two metal pieces and very intense heat is generated
which melts the metal and they fuse together to form a strong weld. The whole
process is carried out in a vacuum chamber to prevent it from contamination.
Working Principle
It works on the principle that when a high-velocity beam of electron that has Kinetic
energy strikes the two metal pieces, the kinetic energy of the electron transformed
into heat. The intensity of heat produced is so much that it melts the two metal
pieces and fuse them together to form a strong weld.
Construction
The various Equipment of Electron beam welding is
1. Electron Gun
It is used to generate, accelerates and align the electron beam in a desired direction
and spots on the w/p. There are two types of electron guns, the first one is self
accelerated and the second one is work accelerated. In self accelerated gun, the
acceleration of electron takes by applying a potential difference between cathode
and anode. And in the work accelerated gun, the acceleration of the electron takes
place by applying the potential difference between the cathode and workpiece. The
workpiece (w/p) acts as anode.
The main parts of electron gun are:
(i) Cathode (Emitter or Filament): It emits the electron.
(ii) Anode: It is a positively charged Electrode and attracts the electron produced by
the cathode. It accelerated the electrons under the influence of high potential
difference. For high voltage equipment, the potential difference ranges from 70 kV to
150 kV and for small voltage equipment it ranges from 15 – 30 kV
(iii) Grid Cup: It is used to control the electron beam. It stops the divergence of
electrons produced by the cathode. It has applied with negative voltage with respect
to the cathode.
(iv) Focusing Unit: Tt consists of two parts – a magnetic lens and a deflector coil.
The magnetic lens focuses the electron beam on the w/p. And the deflector coil is
used to deflect or guide the beam to the desired locations. The extent of deflection
can be varied by changing the amount of dc voltage across the deflector plate.
2. Power Supply
The power supply used in the Electron Beam Welding process is dc power supply
sources. The voltage ranges from 70-150 kV for high voltage equipment and 5-30 kV
for small voltage equipment. The current level ranges from 50 to100 mA.
3. Vacuum Chamber
It is a chamber in which the vacuum is created by the vacuum pump. Roughing
mechanical pump and diffusion pump is used to create a vacuum in the vacuum
Chamber. The pressure ranges from 100 kPa for open atmosphere to 0.13-13 Pa for
partial vacuum and 0.13 to 133 mPa for hard vacuum. The extent of scattering
increases with the increase in the vacuum and this allows more penetration in the
workpiece.
4. Work Handling Devices:
The fixtures are used to hold the workpiece. The workpiece motion is controlled by
the CNC (Computer Numerical Control).
Working of Electron Beam Welding Process
In Electron Beam welding, the electron is produced by the cathode of the
electron gun.
After cathode, a cup grid is provided. It prevents the divergence of electron and
control it.
Because of the high voltage applied across the cathode and anode. The
anode which is positively charged attracts the electron from the cup grid.
The anode accelerates the electron and its velocity increases and reaches the
range of 50000 – 200000 km/s. From the anode, the high-velocity electron
beam is passed through the magnetic lens and deflector coils.
The magnetic lens focuses the electron beam to the desired location on the
workpiece. And the deflector coil deflects the beam to the required weld area.
As the high-velocity electron beam strikes the workpiece, intense heat is
produced and it melts the metal of the two workpieces and fills the weld area.
The molten weld solidifies and forms a strong weld joint.
Electron Beam is capable to weld work pieces with thickness from
0.0004” (0.01 mm) up to 6” (150 mm) of steel and up to 20” (500 mm) of
aluminum. Electron Beam Welding may be used for joining any metals
including metals, which are hardly weldable by other welding methods:
refractory metals (tungsten, molybdenum, niobium) and chemically active
metals (titanium, zirconium, beryllium). Electron Beam Welding is also able to
join dissimilar metals.
Advantages
High welding speed.
Welding of dissimilar metal can be done.
High weld quality and precision.
Less operating cost.
Materials with high welding temperatures can be welded easily.
Less distortion due to less affected heat zone.
The cost of cleaning is negligible.
It welds thicker sheets, ranges from .025 mm to 100 mm.
It is capable of welding inaccessible joints.
Disadvantages
The cost of equipment is very high.
High skilled operator is required to operate it.
A high vacuum is required.
Due to operation in vacuum, large jobs can not be welded.
High safety measures are needed to work with it.
Application
It is used in aerospace industries for manufacturing jet components, parts of
structures, transmission parts and sensors.
It is used in power generation industries.
It is used in space industries to build titanium tanks and sensors.
It is used in automobile industries to manufactures transmission systems,
gears, and turbochargers.
It used in electrical and electronic industries to manufactures parts of copper
structures.
The other areas where it is used are nuclear industries, medical, research
centers, etc.
Friction Welding : Principle, Working, Types, Application, Advantages and
Disadvantages
Friction welding is a solid state welding process. Solid state welding are those
welding process in which no external heat is applied or no molten or plastic state
involves. In this type of welding, welding occurs due to external pressure applied into
the solid state. In friction welding process, both the plates or work piece to be joint
are in either rotating or moving relative to one another. This relative movement
produces friction which displaces material plastically on contact surface. A high
pressure forced applied till completed the weld. This welding is used to joint steel
bars, tubes up to 100 mm diameter.
Principle:
Friction welding works on basic principle of friction. In this welding process, the
friction is used to generate heat at the interference surface. This heat is further used
to join two work pieces by applying external pressure at the surface of work piece. In
this welding process, the friction is applied until the plastic forming temperature is
achieved. It is normally 900-1300 degree centigrade for steel. After this heating
phase, a uniformly increasing pressure force applied until the both metal work pieces
makes a permanent joint. This joint is created due to thermo mechanical treatment at
the contact surface.
Working:
There are many types of friction welding processes which works differently. But all
different these processes involves common a working principle which can be
summarize as follow.
First both the work pieces are prepared for smooth square surface. One of
them is mounted on a rotor driven chuck and other one remains stationary.
The rotor allows rotating at high speed thus it makes rotate mounted work
piece. A little pressure force is applied on the stationary work piece which permits
cleaning the surface by burnishing action.
Now a high pressure force applied to the stationary work piece which forces it
toward rotating work piece and generates a high friction force. This friction generates
heat at the contact surface. It is applied until the plastic forming temperature is
achieved.
When the temperature is reached the desire limit, the rotor is stopped and the
pressure force is applied increasingly until the whole weld is formed.
This welding is used to weld those metals and alloys which cannot be welded
by other method.
Types:
Continuous induce friction welding:
This welding is same as we discussed above. In this welding process, the rotor is
connected with a band brake. When the friction crosses the limit of plastic
temperature, the band brake comes into action which stops the rotor but the
pressure applied on the work piece increasingly until the weld is formed.
Inertia friction welding:
In this type of friction welding the band brake is replaced by the engine flywheel and
shaft flywheel. These flywheels connect chuck to the motor. In the starting of the
welding, both flywheels are connected with one another. When the speed or friction
reaches its limit, the engine flywheel separated from the shaft flywheel. Shaft
flywheel has low moment of inertia which stops without brake. The pressure force is
continuously applied to the work piece until the weld is formed.
Application:
For welding tubes and shafts.
It is mostly used in aerospace, automobile, marine and oil industries.
Gears, axle tube, valves, drive line etc. components are friction welded.
It is used to replace forging or casting assembly.
Hydraulic piston rod, truck rollers bushes etc. are join by friction welding.
Used in electrical industries for welding copper and aluminum equipment’s.
Used in pump for welding pump shaft (stainless steel to carbon steels).
Gear levers, drill bits, connecting rod etc. are welded by friction welding.
Advantages:
It is environment friendly process without generation smoke etc.
Narrow heat affected zone so no change in properties of heat sensitive
material.
No filler metal required.
Welding strength is strong in most cases.
Easily automated.
High welding speed.
High efficiency of weld.
Wide variety of metal can be weld by this process.
Disadvantages:
This is mostly used only for round bars of same cross section.
Non-forgeable material cannot be weld.
Preparation of work piece is more critical
High setup cost.
Joint design is limited.
