In-Process Electron Beam Welding and Additive Manufacturing Quality Assurance

Electron beam welding and additive manufacturing both benefit from the use of consistent and stable processing conditions. It is well known that different electron beam machines can provide contrasting welding and processing performance. In critical applications, such as partial penetration aerospace engine or control component welding, process procedures and parameters are developed to eliminate defect occurrences, normally without an underlying appreciation of the actual beam characteristics and their impact. An improved knowledge of these beam qualities is required to assure quality, enable the transfer of welding or processing from one machine to another, and to ensure day-to-day control of production.

This paper will detail TWI’s work in the field of EB quality assurance and the development of the BeamAssure^TM in-process quality assurance tool which overcomes many research and production challenges. It will be shown how the system is deployed for welding, and for EBM additive manufacturing, applications and how minor changes in power beam characteristics may be detected and acted upon in real-time. The proprietary TWI BeamAssure technology addresses many production challenges such as ensuring correct transfer of procedures between machines, precise penetration control and reduced need for post-process NDE.