What Is The Electron Beam Melting
The Electron Beam Melting (EBM) allows the freeform production of Titanium and its alloys (such as Ti64) or the Chrome-Cobalt (CrCbMo) alloy parts through a high vacuum chamber and melting process starting from a bed of metal powder.
The powder is preheated and then melted utilizing an electron beam.
In EBM the electrons are accelerated up to 150.000 Km/sec and then used to draw a representative layer of the part.
The EBM's main advantages are:
The realization of extremely complex geometry and related structures directly from CAD 3D files.
The obtained part has metallurgic characteristics similar to heat-treated material that allows to avoid heat treatment phases, saving costs and time.
The process of removing gating and feeding as well as chemical milling are not necessary since the part production does not occur in a ceramic shell.
The time to market the product goes from months (for traditional technologies) to a few days (6-10) making it possible to obtain several different solutions for a project in a shorter time.
The sectors that mostly appreciate the advantages of EBM are:
Aerospace and aeronautic (variable density system);
Biomedical (trabecular structures to maximize the bone migration in prostheses);
Motorsport (in-frame construction to reduce the time for the production of very complex shapes using these high-performance materials).
After studies carried out by CRP Meccanica on the Electron Beam Melting (EBM) technology important results were obtained about its usually anisotropic morphological structure: with the last development applied to the CRP Meccanica's process the metal structure is isotropic like the casting technology, making the parts more reliable and resistant and therefore for the first time they can be used for safety static applications. Electron Beam Melting dynamic applications are still in the course of study.
In 2020, West-Ti invested 1.03 billion yuan to establish Shaanxi Guotai Metal Co., Ltd. in the Baoji High-tech Development Zone, covering an area of 32 acres, equipped with 2 15T VAR furnaces, and two 15T EB furnaces. With precision forging workshops, including Guotai Business Center, R&D center, smelting, forging, and ring rolling. The capability covers the forging processing of large ingots, oversized rings, bars, thicker plates, and forgings. At present, the annual production of titanium ingots exceeds 10,000 tons, and the annual capacity of titanium plates is over 10,000 tons. It is expected to achieve an annual capacity of 8000 tons of high-quality titanium and titanium alloy with an annual revenue of 680 million yuan, and more than 150 job opportunities are expected for the community.
