Surface texturing

Electron beam welding is favoured in many industries for its ability to make precision, low distortion welds under clean vacuum conditions, which promote the formation of high quality joints in many materials, but the process is not limited to just welding. As the beam is made up of charged electrons it has a net overall negative charge, as such, we can control its movement via electrostatic or electromagnetic lenses. By using digital systems we also have a high level of control and manipulation of the beam position and power for other materials processing tasks.

In practice the EB heat source can be split using high band width beam deflection, so that many discrete beams can co-exist. These multiple beams can weld simultaneously or be used for surface processing/modification.

By using high band width beam deflection we have been able to examine a range of novel texturing techniques. These can be used as pre-treatment operations to make surface textures with re-entrant features for applications such as lubricant retention and enhanced bonding.

New control techniques have been developed that allow previously unattainable results to be obtained in a wide variety of materials. Holes are formed with controlled profiles at rates of hundreds or thousands per second, in an inherently clean vacuum environment. The speed and hole formation characteristics of EB texturing are unmatched by any other process.

See information on Percussive forming.

More detailed information is available to TWI's Industrial Members:

Electron beam texturing members report

Contact: electronbeam@twi.co.uk