Electron Beam Welding-A Critical Survey

Welding technology over the years has made tremendous strides and has established itself as a major fabrication technique. Special welding processes have come into being to join materials that were hitherto considered unweldable. Electron beam welding is one such process that was developed to meet the requirements of aerospace and nuclear industry. Today the process has spread into a number of engineering applications. An effort has been made through this paper to review the process of electron beam welding and its applications. The probable defects that may occur during the electron beam process and special techniques of inspection to detect these defects have been discussed at length. The economics of the process has also been studied.