Electron Beam Welding

What is Electron Beam Welding?

Electron beam welding (EBW) is a fusion welding process that uses a high energy electron beam to join metals together, with a wide range of applications in many industries.

How Does Electron Beam Welding Work?

An EBW machine consists of an electron gun that produces a focused beam of high-energy, high-speed electrons, with a velocity of between 0.3 and 0.7 times the speed of light. The electron gun is mounted on, or in, an evacuated chamber that contains tooling and fixtures that holds and moves the workpiece.

The beam passes through the anode and on towards the workpiece, using a focusing lens to focus the beam to achieve sufficient power density to weld the two metals.

You can read our full FAQ on how EBW works.

Vacuum

EBW takes place in a vacuum chamber. This aids the weld quality, as it tends to pull contamination away from the weld pool. Welding in a vacuum also results in the operator not becoming exposed to the hazardous welding environment.

Automated Process

The process can be highly automated with the evacuation time of the chamber being just a few seconds. A typical cycle time in the automotive industry is 40 seconds per component. But time is dependent upon the length and complexity of the weld.

Turnkey Solution

Electron beam systems include a chamber, fully automatic vacuum system, work handling, and control system.

Weld Characteristics

The process is extremely efficient (typically 95%), and the weld quality is exceptional, presenting the following characteristics:

Deep penetration
High depth-to-width ratio
Narrow fusion zone
Inert atmosphere vacuum
Near parent metal strength
Low distortion

Electron Beam Welding Animation

CVE’s Range of EB Welding Machines

Please find our full range of machine models below.

Machines are built to order and options include custom and precision work handling, vacuum systems tailored to specific process needs and productivity, wire-feed, automatic joint finding, backscattered electron imaging, automatic focus, alignment and stigmator adjustment, high-speed data capture, beam probes and QA reporting. At the heart of the system is CVE’s fully integrated HMI – find out more about our advanced features and options.

If you are not sure which system is right for your application, please get in touch! Our machines are built and manufactured at our Cambridge Headquarters. With 60-years of process know-how in providing turn-key solutions, we can find the right solution for your application.

CVE operates a Quality Management System that complies with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2015 and all CVE welding machines are tested in accordance with BS EN ISO 14744 Parts 1-6: Acceptance Inspection of Electron Beam Welding Machines.