Need for EBW

High quality & consistent weld

From thin to very high thickness

Minimum distortion

To join high melting point refractory

metals with very high quality

Metallurgical cleanliness

Advantages
High energy density & low energy input allows less shrinkage & distortion, narrow HAZ High quality, contamination free weld

High conductivity materials can be welded Finish machined and intricate parts can be joined

Highly concentrated beam, less thermal effects on materials to be joined Refractory materials & dissimilar material combination can be effectively joined High aspect ratio welds allow single pass for heavy thickness material

Deep & Narrow weld zone

Fusion area under Conventional weld

Fusion area under EB weld

Basic principle of Electron Beam Welding

Electron Beam Welding

Welding Gun : Direct/ Indirect heating Cathode : Temperature: 2538 deg.C Anode : With a hole in the center Wehnelt : Grid Focus Coil : for focussing Deflection coil : for deflection of beam Vacuum chamber Movement mechanisms Controls

Electron Beam Welding

Low voltage type
Medium voltage High Voltage

: 30kV, 15kW Hard

vacuum

: 60kV, 60kW Hard

vacuum, soft vacuum

: 125-175kV, 120kW
Hard vacuum, soft vacuum and Non vacuum

Electron Beam Welding

Machine details Vacuum selection: Depends on type of material to be welded and depth to be welded Hard vacuum for reactive materials like zirconium Soft vacuum for steel and alloys Non vacuum with inert gas shield with low depth to width ratio. Optical viewing system: Telemicroscope with cross hair or video camera with monitor Vacuum pumping: Mechnical pump, diffusion pump or turbo molecular pumps with coolers Gun Mobility, wire feeding, seam tracking

Electron Beam WeldingPROCESS VARIABLES

ACCELERATION VOLTAGE: Controls the spot size. Spot size can also be controlled by focus coil. Controls penetration BEAM CURRENT: Controls bead width, beam power. Controlled by Wehnelt supply
BEAM FOCUS: Controls position of focus point

WELDING SPEED: Controls heat input, depends on depth and width of weld and thermal conductivity.

Electron Beam WeldingWelding of materials

Welding of St.steels Aluminium Titanium alloys Berillium Zircalloys Columbium Molybdenum Tungsten 90% TS 80% TS 100% TS 50% TS 100% TS 100% TS better than arc welding

Electron Beam WeldingJoint Design

Butt Joint T Joint Flange to Shaft joint Lap joint

Electron Beam WeldingApplications

Nuclear Aero Space Electronics

Electron Beam WeldingProducts

Turbine blades Compresser vanes Blade to blade Blade to flanges Compresser rotor shafts Instrumentation capsules

Electron Beam WeldingMetallurgical effects

Reduced cracking Improved weld properties Narrow Heat Affected zone Aluminium alloys can be welded Blind welding can be done High frequency beam spinning will reduce porosity

Electron Beam WeldingDefects

Porosities: Root, round, cross, border type Cracks: Longitudinal, transverse, cold crack and necklace type cracking Cold shut, spikes Lack of fusion Geometrical Defects Control of defects: by beam oscillation, low speed and increased bead width.

Electron Beam WeldingADVANTAGES

WELD QUALITY LOW DISTORTION LOW HEAT INPUT LONG FOCUS WIDE RANGE OF THICKNESS WELDING OF DISSIMILAR MATERIALS HIGH WELDING SPEED ACCURACY OF REPEATABILITY MULTIPLE PENETRATION

Electron Beam WeldingLIMITATIONS

VACUUM LIMITATIONS MAGNETIC MATERIALS PROFILE WELDING VARIABLE WORKING DISTANCE VARIABLE PENETRATION ACCESIBILITY CRITICALITY OF MACHINING COST

Electron Beam Welding

Technical considerations
Work Handling and ancillary eqpt Jigs and fixtures Manipulators Drives and controls Wire feed Pumping equipment Magnetic fields Automatic controls Maintenance

Electron Beam Welding

Maintenance Aspects

Electron optical column and accessories High voltage supply system Ancillary supplies and controls Vacuum systems and vacuum pumps Manipulators

Electron Beam WeldingQuality control and inspection

Control of components before processing Control of parameters during processing Control after the operation

Mechanism
Electron Beam d

P1

ax1

ax1 - Unaffected zone of thickness

Mechanism
Electron Beam

o1 a1 o2

a2

Modes of Electron Beam

1. Wehnelt 2. Cathode 3. Anode 4. Focusing coil 5. Focused beam 6. Diaphragm

I. II. III.

Triode Gun Triode Gun with polarized wehnelt Diode Gun

Gun view

Small chamber EB system

High vacuum chamber

6KW EB Machine

Max Voltage

: 70KV

Operating Voltage : 60KV Chamber size : 350 x 350 x 350

High power Electron Beam Welding at WRI

Power :

45 kW

Acceleration Voltage : 60 kV Beam current : 750 mA Chamber size :1500 X 1200 X 1200 mm X-Y table movement : 700 X 400 mm

Gun movement : 1200 mm

Electron beam welding machine with four workstation

Materials
Steels:
With less than 0.4% are easily EB welded without preheat or PWHT High Carbon & Tool steel - more than 0.5%C- weldable

Stainless Steel:
Austenitic Steel-easily weldable Martensitic Steel-cracking problem due to lack of toughness Ferritic Steel- magnetic in nature create beam deflection high cooling rates inhibit carbide precipitation

Copper & its alloys

Oxygen free Copper readily weldable
Oxygen bearing Copper - difficult to weld porosity, spatter, expulsion of molten metal,uneven weld surface Alloying elements in copper presence of zinc poses problems-porosity

Aluminium & its alloys

Al HT alloys (2xxx,6xxx,7xxx) are crack sensitive Use of filler - thin strips Proper choice of parameters & procedure Use of PWHT 2xxx series effectively welded-higher yield strength obtained with heavier gages 6xxx series -slightly affected by the heat cycles 7xxx series -difficult to join- apply low speed Zinc - high vapour pressure, creates porosity Al non HT alloy (3xxx,4xxx,5xxx) Easily weldable without cracking in fusion & HAZ 5xxx series successfully welded (12.7mm) - Mg content is preferentially vaporised

Titanium & its alloys

Pure Titanium and Alpha alloys

- easily EB weldable

Beta-alloys

- good weldability & formability in annealed & solution treated condition

Dual phase alloys

- Weldable, 20% or more amount of beta phase difficult to weld

Aerospace application
T I T ANI UM PROPELLANT T ANK

HIGH QUALITY WELDING IS ACHIEVED THROUGH EBW FOR TITANIUM GAS BOTTLE MANUFACTURE

Applications of EBW

Precombustion chamber

Turbo charger Wheel

Cardiac pacemakers

Gas turbine

Copper/steel weld

Niobium super conductive Cavities

Schematic diagram of the joint Cu-Cr-Zr cast connecting piece - OFC expansion strips
15 20 15 180

Expansion strips
EB weld

Expansion strips

58

3 58

3 58

Spacer strips

connecting Piece

Connecting piece

Component description Flexible copper terminal assembly used in 500MW water-cooled generator for transferring the full stator current (16.2kA) from stator winding bus bars to terminal bushings. The assembly remains in side the generator with H2 cooling and subjected to continuous vibration

Connecting pieces

Each assembly consists of: four connecting pieces twelve expansion strips

Connecting pieces

Case study
EBW of flexible copper terminal assemblies for 500MW generators..

Each assembly - 4 connecting pieces & 12 expansion strips. Ag coated connecting pieces - Cu-CrZr sand casting. Expansion strip OFC 2 Cu strips of 0.5X58X265mm & 49 Cu strips of 0.3X60X265mm - diffusion welded together.

Connecting piece

Expansion strips

Chemical analysis of OFC

Cu 98.48 Cr 1.38 Zn 0.024 Fe 0.035 Si 0.014 P 0.0063 S 0.0254

Half assembly
Mn 0.004

Close-up view of EB welded joint

58mm

58mm

58mm

Case study
EBW of flexible copper terminal assemblies for 500MW generators..

Macrophotograph of the EB weld joint

Close-up view of EBW joint

Joint No.

EB welding parameters used for joints Accln Beam Focus Heating voltage, kV current, mA current, A current, A 49.9 49.1 48.2 49.2 48.6 49.7 47.3 52.2 344 147 345 110 320 105 324 135 4.08 4.21 4.04 4.19 4.09 4.52 4.14 4.61 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3

1-weld 1-cosmetic 2-weld 2-cosmetic 3-weld 3-cosmetic 4-weld 4-cosmetic

Welding speed, cm/min 60 120 60 60 60 90 60 90

Properties of Zr-Cr Cu alloy casting

The silver coated connecting pieces are made up of Zr-Cr-Cu sand casting as per HW 19992 specification

Chemical composition
Cr - 0.70 wt% Zr - 0.07 wt%

Mechanical properties
Ultimate Tensile Strength : 465.87 Mpa Yield Strength Elongation : 324.22 Mpa : 14.42%

Cu expansion strips
Oxygen free deoxidised copper with low residual phosphorous content and high electrical conductivity Copper Phosphorus UTS Elongation : 99.90 wt % : 0.003 wt % : 20-25 kP/mm2 : 32-38 %

Macrophotograph of EB welded joint

Cu Strips

Zr-Cr-Cu alloy

20mm

Arrangement of Copper strips

Zr-Cr-Cu alloy 1

0.3mm

2 3

1 Strips

100m

200m

Microstructure of EB welded joint

Weld

Strip HAZ

WELD

HAZ Strip

200m

200m

Micro hardness results (LECO M400-H)

280

Hardness, HV 500ggg

260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 100 Strip HAZ Weld Zr-Cr-Cu Location

Tests conducted
Radiography test Sound weld metal Occasional depression due to oxide expulsion Electrical conductivity study Ohmic resistance measured Zr-Cr-Cu :15 m Expansion strips :17 m Welded assembly :32 m

Case study
EB welding of AISI 316 Stainless steel

D I

View from TOP show smooth surface without undercut

View from ROOT show full penetration

EB WELDING PARAMETERS FOR AISI 316 STAINLESS STEEL

Weld t, type mm Bead 38 Bead 38 Bead 38 Bead 38 Bead 38 Joint 38 Joint 38 Joint 38 Joint 38 Joint 38 Joint 34 Acceln. volt, kV 47 47 48 50 53 53 54 54 54 54 52 Beam current, mA 300 300 300 345 345 350 320 340 350 350 320 W-G mm 300 250 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Speed mm/min 400 400 400 400 440 400 440 440 480 480 500 Remarks
25mm penetration 29mm penetration 32mm penetration. Full back penetration Good penetration Insufficient penetration tack failure good back penetration Joint ok Good joint. Optimal Good joint

Tensile test results

No. 25-1 25-2 Ultimate load Kgf 17900 18050 UTS -Kgf/mm 59.7 60.2 Fracture position Weld Weld

Case study
Microstructure of fractured surface of the tensile specimen

Dimple structure improves the

toughness of the
weld metal in EB welded AISI 316

stainless steel in
as welded condition