Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing and its Applications in Aerospace Field

Abstract

The concept of additive manufacturing is put forward on the basis of the nowadays research hotspot-3D print. This paper focuses on the main branch technology of additive manufacturing, i.e., electron beam melting (EBM) in high energy beam rapid manufacturing area, enumerating the advantages of EBM compared with laser rapid prototyping and introducing its process principle as well as its research status. The application situation of EBM in aerospace especially it’s utility in aircraft engine and industrialization of industrial aspects was also introduced, and its development prospect in the future was forecasted.

Influence of dimension, building position, and orientation on mechanical properties of EBM lattice Ti6Al4V trusses

“…Subsequently to the layer melting phase, according to the instructions contained in the CAD (computer-assisted design) model of the component/part to be manufactured, the building table is lowered and the sequence is repeated until the whole product is obtained. The process, firstly introduced in 1997 by the Swedish company ARCAM, is currently a promising technology for the manufacturing of lightweight, durable and dense end parts; it is mainly used in aerospace, medical and defense industries [23][24][25][26]. Similar to electron beam welding (EBW), the EBM process takes place in a vacuum chamber, providing a clean and controlled environment which avoids porosity formation inherent in many structural alloys such as Al-alloy [27,28] as well as an excellent thermal insulation.…”

The Effect of Post-Processing on the Mechanical Behavior of Ti6Al4V Manufactured by Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion for General Aviation Primary Structural Applications

“…The EBM was designed to process titanium alloys and in particular the Ti6Al4V alloy, as well as materials that require elevated process temperatures [11][12][13][14]. The advantages of using EBM in the aerospace engineering and its application especially for the industrialization of aircraft engine were analyzed in [15]. Concerning the Ti6Al4V, the EBM process shows several advantages, such as a fine resultant microstructure, very low residual stress, good static mechanical properties and no oxygen contamination (thanks to the vacuum environment in which the EBM process occurs) [16].…”