Archives: Industries

Automotive Industry

The automotive industry is quickly adopting electrification, with commercially available electric vehicles already on the market.

Government regulation, such as the UK ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, as well as decreasing costs of equipment and improving technology, means that electrification in this sector is only going to increase.

Reports suggest that in just eight years from now, more than 50% of vehicles in Europe will be electric.

Vehicle electrification is the process of powering the vehicle with electricity by replacing components that operate on a conventional energy source with components that operate on electricity. This includes battery packs, motors, auxiliary systems, and charging systems.

Improvements are developing rapidly, with manufacturers already making advances in fast charging technology and battery exchange systems.

The size and mass of a battery pack often impact the design as more battery cells mean more mass for the vehicle. Increased mass requires more energy for the vehicle movement and affects manoeuvrability, such as handling, acceleration, and braking.

Widespread electrification of light and heavy-duty vehicles faces many economic and technological challenges. Many manufacturers sell electric cars, but there are still some barriers to adoption, including charging infrastructure and price. This is mainly due to the battery costs, but innovative welding solutions can help reduce these.

CVE’s Expertise

CVE is working with TWI, an independent research and technology organisation, to explore the feasibility of electron beam welding for components to support the transition towards electrification.

Electron beam welding is an optimal joining method for welding battery units.

With automotive engines expecting to require 2 million battery units, with 10,000 welds per unit, electron beam welding is a great solution to help manufacturers meet demand.

If you require more information, please get in touch! With 60-years of process know-how in providing turn-key solutions, we can find the right solution for your application.

Semiconductors

Electron beam welding is used to join many components in the semiconductor industry where high-quality, defect-free welds are required.

Low porosity in welds is essential for ensuring high levels of cleanliness are maintained in service and the low overall heat input of electron beam welding also results in minimal distortion which reduces the amount of post-weld machining.

OFFSHORE WIND

All offshore wind structures require high productivity welding fabrication and reliable performance. There is a range of structures that need to be fabricated as part of an offshore wind turbine, including monopiles, suction anchors, and flanges.

Electron beam welding improves productivity and the quality of the weld, and welding in a vacuum creates an ideal welding atmosphere, preventing oxidation and removing the requirement to pre-heat – among other benefits.

CVE has adapted its latest high-tech welding technology, Ebflow, to reduce the fabrication time and cost of wind turbine foundations by up to 25%.

CVE is part of a consortium of organisations that has won an Innovate UK grant to dramatically reduce the installation costs of the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the North Sea. When completed, the wind farm will generate enough energy to power over 4.5 million homes every year – around 5% of the UK’s electricity needs.

Aluminium Alloys

High-strength aluminium alloys are commonly electron beam welded for applications such as missile cases, launchers, and armour piercing parts and in some instances, the mechanical properties are modified by the use of a wire feed system used during the welding process.

Small Components

Transducers, relays, and aneroid capsules are examples of small components joined by electron beam welding in the defence sector.

Titanium Alloys

The high precision and 100% defect-free weld seams of electron beam welding are exploited for joining titanium alloys within the defence sector such as fuel propellant tanks and aero-engine rotors. Aero-engine parts are also commonly repaired, with electron beam used as the joining method.

Electron Beam Welding of Thick Section Nuclear Components

Within the nuclear industry welding of thick-section components can be completed through various processes that are time-consuming and add significantly to the cost of fabrication. For many years, the aim has been to find a suitable process that can be used more widely across the nuclear industry. Even though output within nuclear power is low, the safety-critical nature of these components demands a high- quality solution.

Typically, the welding of thick section components such as pressure vessels has been performed using arc-welding techniques that require multiple weld passes, with interstage non-destructive examination (NDE) and preheating of the component to reduce the risk of hydrogen cracking.

Recent developments of electron beam welding technology using Ebflow offer the opportunity to weld large vessels in thick-section components in a single pass at high speed, with minimal distortion. Ebflow also negates the need for interstage NDE, which means there is a significant saving in time and cost in the fabrication of nuclear pressure vessels. Furthermore, you can eliminate the preheating step, since the EB process takes place in a vacuum environment, and therefore avoids the risk of hydrogen embrittlement.

Compared with other welding processes, there are many advantages of using electron beam welding within the nuclear industry. It can offer significant savings in cost and time for thick-section fabrication due to the rapid joining rate resulting from the process of welding the full joint thickness in one single pass.

Electron Beam Welding of Turbochargers

Most modern passenger and commercial diesel vehicle engines have a turbocharger fitted, which means there are currently millions of vehicles benefiting from better fuel economy, performance, and lower emissions across the world.

At the heart of the turbocharger is the high-speed rotating impeller shaft assembly. Driven by exhaust gasses, the shaft forces fuel and air back into the engine.

Electron beam welding joins a cast Inconel wheel and a carbon steel shaft together. The electron beam is a finely focused stream of electrons, which melts the two metal surfaces together, resulting in an excellent quality of weld with the characteristics of deep penetration, narrow fusion zone (HAZ) and near parent metal strength. Welding inside a vacuum environment ensures a clean and pure process.

Parts are either machined with a spigot to make the joint self-locating or are butted together before welding and held with precision clamping to control the geometry. Parts can be welded in the finished or semi-finished condition to minimise post-weld machining and with the correct alignment of the beam at the rotor/shaft joint, accurate and repeatable welds are possible with no associated cracking.

Electron Beam Welding of Front Bearing Housing

This extremely complex assembly is fabricated from several relatively simple components. There are not many other welding processes that you could successfully employ for this type of product. The part requires linear, circumferential, and planetary welds during successive operations.

Electron Beam Welding of Compressor Rotors

This major rotating component demands welds of high integrity, in 901 nickel. Fabrication by electron beam welding achieves savings in weight, material, and machining costs.

Electron Beam Welding of Stator Blades

Fabricated using electron beam welding to join the many blade sections together results in a precise, repeatable weld. Titanium is perfectly suited to the electron beam welding process as it is done in a vacuum to avoid oxidation.