Electron Beam Welding breakthrough

[fizzy]

I found this quite interesting.
Sheffield Forgemasters have perfected a technique for welding very thick sections using EBW.

Sheffield Forgemasters claim welding breakthrough

Using Electron Beam Welding, the company weld-joined two 200mm-thick, 3-metre diameter vessel sections in UK small modular reactor nuclear grade steel, describing it as a breakthrough in the industrialisation of EBW for thick-section materials. ;

www.world-nuclear-news.org

Instead of needing a large vacuum chamber they create the vacuum at a local level around the weld. It has been developed for the new Rolls Royce SMRs but will have plenty of other applications as well.
They welded 2 sections 200mm thick and 3m diameter in 140 mins. Apparently that would have taken far longer although I doubt it would have taken a few months as claimed!

 

[Bornfree]

10 minute job with my 80amp sealey mig.

 

[8ob]

No Facetube vid it couldn't of possibly happened

Bob

 

[Kram]

Apparently that would have taken far longer although I doubt it would have taken a few months as claimed!

It implies that non destructive testing and heat treatment take the time and could be skipped.. not a great way to waste, what will ultimately be tax payer money..

 

[fizzy]

It implies that non destructive testing and heat treatment take the time and could be skipped.. not a great way to waste, what will ultimately be tax payer money..

Once the process is up and running it will probably save money in the long run.

 

[mike os]

I wonder if it’s autogenus?

 

[Munkul]

They welded 2 sections 200mm thick and 3m diameter in 140 mins. Apparently that would have taken far longer although I doubt it would have taken a few months as claimed!

Aye it would have taken a few weeks at the very least. For every hour of welding there will be 3 or 4 hours of NDT and various QA. Not to mention stress relieving, pre/post heat, etc.
This could be a game changer for building nuclear pressure vessels, which will be a very welcome time and cost saving when they start building a few at a time... Roll on the SMRs

 

[Barking Mat]

Give me some 4mm rods and an oil bath welder, probably bé alright .......

 

[daleyd]

Aye it would have taken a few weeks at the very least. For every hour of welding there will be 3 or 4 hours of NDT and various QA. Not to mention stress relieving, pre/post heat, etc.
This could be a game changer for building nuclear pressure vessels, which will be a very welcome time and cost saving when they start building a few at a time... Roll on the SMRs

I hope not, I got a good 6 months work writing software for the heat treating process of the next lot of pressure vessels for the Dreadnaughts!

 

[Kram]

How does EBW get around the need to QA that welds are upto spec with no defects?

 

[8ob]

How does EBW get around the need to QA that welds are upto spec with no defects?

Like any machine welding process, the process will have been tested/proven many times over before production begins, once proven it will be the process thats monitored and not the weld.

Bob

 

[Maker]

I wonder if they're hiring.

 

[stuvy]

Any ideas how they do local vacuum shielding?

 

[Maker]

Here's a PDF on it, it sounds like it's just a close fitting seal on the head, and it doesn't need that high a vacuum. I'd imagine the electron gun itself is under high vacuum and has a thin window to the low vacuum area, probably as close as reasonably possible to the weld area, an electron beam will travel through atmospheric air, just not very far.

Here's a screenshot from a video on the CVE website too, looks like a two or three inch vacuum line, presumably it's close seal to the workpiece and an absolutely massive vacuum pump to accommodate any leaks. They might even trickle a purge gas around the edge so whatever low pressure atmosphere is in there has even less oxygen to mess up the joint.

They say it's patented technology, the patent would reveal all the secrets, but I can't find it.

 

[stuvy]

Here's a PDF on it, it sounds like it's just a close fitting seal on the head, and it doesn't need that high a vacuum. I'd imagine the electron gun itself is under high vacuum and has a thin window to the low vacuum area, probably as close as reasonably possible to the weld area, an electron beam will travel through atmospheric air, just not very far.

Here's a screenshot from a video on the CVE website too, looks like a two or three inch vacuum line, presumably it's close seal to the workpiece and an absolutely massive vacuum pump to accommodate any leaks. They might even trickle a purge gas around the edge so whatever low pressure atmosphere is in there has even less oxygen to mess up the joint.
View attachment 340398

They say it's patented technology, the patent would reveal all the secrets, but I can't find it.

I half expected it to be like that

Always worth knowing a few extra ideas from Other places

 

[fizzy]

Here's a PDF on it, it sounds like it's just a close fitting seal on the head, and it doesn't need that high a vacuum. I'd imagine the electron gun itself is under high vacuum and has a thin window to the low vacuum area, probably as close as reasonably possible to the weld area, an electron beam will travel through atmospheric air, just not very far.

Here's a screenshot from a video on the CVE website too, looks like a two or three inch vacuum line, presumably it's close seal to the workpiece and an absolutely massive vacuum pump to accommodate any leaks. They might even trickle a purge gas around the edge so whatever low pressure atmosphere is in there has even less oxygen to mess up the joint.
View attachment 340398

They say it's patented technology, the patent would reveal all the secrets, but I can't find it.

Funny how people say Britain is useless and we don't make anything any more

 

[fizzy]

I wonder if it’s autogenus?

Maker found a good PDF on it.

And yes it is!

"A coarse vacuum is ideal for thick section welding – achieving the fastest thick section welding rates ever. There is no filler wire, the autogenous weld can be heat treated and the weld rendered metallurgically indistinguishable from the parent material."

What is a coarse vacuum? Do they mean a F****ng Henry

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Funny how people say Britain is useless and we don't make anything any more

I think the "useless" bit happens when we give the technology away for naff all in return...will happen soon enough I fear then everyone can simply copy it!

 

[R Kraft]

Tesla Death ray " https://d3v93rzqvnwm3k.cloudfront.net/photos/images/04171b0e1bbcea45a14f45739696da13_six_column.gif" https://worldhistoryproject.org/193...blicizes-nikola-teslas-particle-beam-research

 

[mike os]

Good find @Maker

We have had a few items ebw but only quite small pieces.

This opens a few possibilities for a couple of things