Electron beam

In the year 2005 the representatives of a German firm expressed their interest to include one of our electron beam welders into their production program. It was agreed that building of the prototype will be started at the beginning of the next year, but soon was realized that the existing documentation needs to be thoroughly revised and digitalized. It was also clear that the current electronics is outdated and must be substantially renewed, if it should meet our new demands and the EU standards.

In the past, as well as today, people looked for ways how to make use of that what the nature offered. The knowledge how to gain, process and use metals, up today belongs to the most important skills. Names of the first known metals, bronze and iron, had given names to the two important historic epochs. The processing of metals can not be done without heating. To the classical methods, fire, gas flame, electric current and electric arc, the new science added two other methods, the laser and electron beams. The technological applications of the latest we shall pursued in the following paper.

The following paper displays a summary of illustrative presentation of electron beam welding. This presentation is a part of Days of Science, taking place regularly in ISI Brno, usually at the beginning of November. The visitors may see in operation an electron beam welding equipment in the laboratory of electron beam welding. The principle and use of the electron beam welder are explained in popular form. The process of welding is practically demonstrated.

The Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI) was founded in 1957. From the very beginning, analytical electron-beam devices, particularly electron microscopes, were designed and produced here. Later technological applications of the e-beam have been developed too.

First technological instrument was a multifunctional vacuum furnace made at group leaded by Dipl. Eng. Ladislav Zobač in 1965, see Fig., with a round working chamber evacuated by a rotary and a diffusion pump (designed also in ISI). The furnace had three different heat-sources: an infra-red heating (molybdenum direct-heated basket), a HF induction heating and a low power e-beam gun (50 kV/5 mA). Possible applications were vacuum soldering/brazing, vacuum remelting and e-beam welding.