BEAM MACHINING PROCESSES (BMPs)

Beam Machining Processes are thermal energy based Advanced Machining

processes in which concentrated beam is utilised to remove the material.

These are basically four types.

1. Electron Beam Machining

2. Ion Beam Machining

3. Plasma Beam Machining

4. Laser Beam Machining

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 ELECTRON BEAM MACHINING
 Stream of high speed electrons (Electron Beam) impinges on the work surface
whereby the kinetic energy, transferred to the work material produces intense heat
to cause melting/ vaporization.

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Figure: Schematic of Electron Beam Machining
 First electron gun produces high velocity electron particles. These electron
particles move towards anode which is placed after cathode tube.

 Now this high intense electron beam passes through magnetic lenses. There are a
series of lenses which take care of only convergent electron passes through it. It
absorb all divergent electron and low energy electron. It provides a high quality
electron beam.

 This electron beam now passes through electromagnetic lens and deflecting coil.
It focus the electron beam at a spot.

 The high intense electron beam impinges on the work piece where kinetic energy
of electrons convert into thermal energy.

 The material is removed from contact surface by melting and vaporization due to
this high heat generated by conversion of kinetic energy into thermal energy. This
whole process take place in a vacuum chamber otherwise these electron collide
with air particle between path and loses its kinetic energy.

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4
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Equipments

Electron Gun:
It is called heart of electron beam machining. It is used to generate electron. It is
simply a cathode ray tube which generates electron, accelerate them to sufficient
velocity and focus them at small spot size. In this gun cathode is made by tungsten or
tantalum. This cathode filament heated upto 2500 degree centigrade which accelerate
to electron emission by thermionic reaction. There is very low vacuum in the
chamber.

Annular Bias Grid:

It is next element of EBM. It is just after the electron gun. It is a anode which is
connected by the negative bias so the electron generated by the cathode do not
diverge from its path and approach to the next element. When the electrons leave this
section, the velocity of electron is almost half the velocity of light.

Magnetic Lenses:
After the anode, magnetic lenses are provided which shape the beam and does not
allow to diverge electron or reduce the divergence of beam. These lenses allow to
pass only convergent electron, thus a high focused beam is obtained. They also
capture low energy electron, thus increase the quality of beam. 6
Electromagnetic lens and deflection coil:
Electromagnetic lens is used to focus the electron beam at a spot. They use to focus
beam at a spot on work piece so a high intense beam reaches at work surface, which
produces more heat and improve machining. The defecting coil does not allow to
beam deflect and take care of all electrons moves in series thus form a high intense
beam.

Work piece and work holding device:

It can machine both metallic and non-metallic material. The work piece is hold by
suitable fixture which is mounted on a CNC table. This table can be move in all
three direction which control the shape of machining.

Applications:
It is used to produce very small size hole about 100 micro meters to 2 millimeter.
It is used to produce holes in diesel injection nozzle.
Used in aerospace industries for producing turbine blade for supersonic engines
and in nuclear reactors.

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Advantages:
 It can be used for produce very small size hole in any shape.
 It can machining any material irrespective its hardness and other mechanical
properties.
 It provides good surface finish. No any surface finishing process is require after
EBM.
 Highly reacting material can be machine easily because machining is done under
vacuum.

Disadvantages:
 High capital cost.
 High skill operator required.
 Low material removal rate.
 Regular maintenance is required
 Material removal rate is very low compare to other conventional process.
 It is difficult to produce perfect vacuum.

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 ION BEAM MACHINING (IBM)
 IBM makes use of kinetic energy of positive ions in place of electrons. The
material removal in IBM takes place due to the ejection of atoms from the surface
by other ionised atoms that bombard the work material.

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Figure: Schematic of Ion Beam Machining
Fig: Material Removal in IBM
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 PLASMA BEAM MACHINING (PBM)

 In PBM, the high temperature plasma (ionised gas) is used as the energy
source for material removal. It can cut tubes of wall thickness up to 50 mm.

(-ve)

(+ ve)

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Figure: Schematic of Plasma Beam Machining
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Figure: (a) Transferred Arc; (b) Non-Transferred Arc 2
 For EBM and IBM Vacuum is required – The operation is complex and
equipments are very costly.

 Affected thickness is low (<1 mm).

 PBM affects larger area hence dimensional accuracy/control is poor.

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 LASER BEAM MACHINING (LBM)
Introduction to Laser:
LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Excited State

Spontaneous
Energy
Emission
Metastable State
Introduction

Stimulated
Energy

Emission of
Radiation

Ground State 14
 COMMON COMPONENTS OF ALL LASERS

1. Active Medium
The active medium may be solid crystals such as ruby or Nd:YAG, liquid
dyes, gases like CO2 or Helium/Neon, or semiconductors such as GaAs.
Active mediums contain atoms whose electrons may be excited to a meta-
stable energy level by an energy source.
2. Excitation Mechanism
Excitation mechanisms pump energy into the active medium by one or
more of three basic methods; optical, electrical or chemical.
3. High Reflectance Mirror
A mirror which reflects essentially 100% of the laser light.
4. Partially Transmissive Mirror
A mirror which reflects less than 100% of the laser light and transmits the
remainder.

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 ORDINARY LIGHT Vs LASER LIGHT

1. Non-monochromatic 1. Monochromatic
2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent
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Commercially available lasers and their industrial applications

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Characteristics of Industrial Lasers:
Operating Ruby Nd:YAG Nd:Glass CO2 Laser Excimer Diode Laser
Parameters Laser Laser Laser Laser
Wavelength 0.69µm 1.064µm 1.064µm 10.6µm 0.248µm 400 nm – 25
µm
Plug Efficiency 30% 40% 40% 45% 80% 30%

Operating 1% max. 4% 2% 12% 0.5-2% 6-8%

Efficiency
Beam Mode Pulsed/CW Pulsed/CW Pulsed Pulsed/CW Pulsed Pulsed/CW

Beam Size 0.015mm 0.015mm 0.025mm 0.075mm ------- -------

Pulse Frequency 1-10 Hz 1-300 Hz 1-3 Hz ------- 1000 – 1-300 Hz

10000 Hz
Beam Output 10-100 W 10-1000 W 10-100 W 0.1-10 kW 10-100W 0.1-20W

Peak Power 200 kW 400 kW 200 kW 100 kW 30-50 MW 100 W

Beam Divergence 5-7 mRad 1-5 mRad 5-7 mRad 0.1-10 mRad ------- 1-3 mRad

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 LASER OUTPUT

Continuous Wave (CW)

Energy
Time

Energy
Pulsed Output

Time
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 Ppeak= Peak Power Pavg= Average Power PW=Pulse width
Ppeak

PF=1/PRI

Power

Pavg

Time
PW
PRI
PRI= Pulse repetition interval

Figure: Variation of Power Vs Time in pulsed mode operation

 Pulse parameters such as pulse frequency and pulse width may be correlated
with laser energy and power as given below:

Pulse energy = Average power / Pulse frequency

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Peak power = Pulse energy / Pulse width
 LASER BEAM MACHINING (LBM)

Figure: Basic components of LBM System 22

Figure: Nd:YAG laser beam Machining system 23
MECHANISM OF MATERIAL REMOVAL IN LBM

• Melting

• Vaporization

• Chemical Degradation (ablation)

• Controlled Fracture

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Laser-Material Interaction

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 LBM CONFIGURATION

1. Drilling (1-D)

Figure: Laser percussion drilling 27

Advantages:

 High production rate

 Applicable to both conductive and non-conductive materials
 No mechanical damage or tool wear due to non-contact processing
 Improved product quality
 Low material wastage
 Small heat-affected zone (HAZ)
 Ecologically clean technology

Limitations:

 Laser drilling holes are inherently associated with defects such as circularity
error, recast layer formation and taper

Applications:

The percussion drilling is used to drill the small closely spaced holes (diameters,
0.125 mm to1.25 mm) with depth to diameter ratio as 100:1 for almost all category
of materials.
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Laser Trepan Drilling:

The holes greater than 1.25 mm diameter, cannot be drilled by percussion drilling
due to low power density of focused laser beam. Hence, larger size holes are
trepanned (cut) along the periphery of the hole. This process is known as laser
trepan drilling.

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Figure: Laser Trepan drilling
2. Cutting (2-D)

Figure: Laser cutting 30

3. Turning (3-D)

Figure: Helix removal

Figure: Ring removal 31

Milling (3-D)

Figure: Laser Milling 32

SOME TYPICAL SHAPES MADE BY LASER MACHINING

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 PROCESS PARAMETERS

INPUT
Laser Parameters: Power, Type, Frequency, Mode (CW or pulsed), Pulse
duration.
Process Parameters: Speed, Focal plane position, Assist gas type and pressure,
beam angle.
Material Parameters: Thickness, Geometry, Composition, Surface Condition

OUTPUT

Performance Characteristics
- Material Removal Rate (MRR)
- Surface roughness
- Dimensional Accuracy (kerf/hole taper)
- Metallurgical Characteristics (HAZ, Recast layer)
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- Mechanical Properties (e.g. hardness, fatigue strength)
DEFINITION AND REPRESENTATION OF QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS IN LBC

Figure: Schematic illustration of various cut quality attributes of interest

Kentry : kerf width at entry side; Kexit : kerf width at exit side; Ra : surface roughness;
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S: thickness of sheet; 1: Oxidised layer; 2: Recast layer; 3: Heat affected zone (HAZ).
Figure: Schematic of Laser beam profile
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Variation of kerf width with the focus setting for different workpiece thicknesses
Top 1.5 mm Bottom

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Top 3.5 mm Bottom

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1.5 mm Micro-cracks 3.5 mm

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 HAZ

(a) (b)

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(c)
 Recast Layer

Figure: Effect of material and its thickness on HAZ and recast layer
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Surface Quality

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MRR

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 Significance of spot overlap and taper angle in pulsed laser cutting

a b
Entry diameter Entry diameter

Exit diameter
Exit diameter

Cut through
‘BRIDGES’ of
uncut material

Figure: Significance of taper angle and spot overlap in laser cutting with a pulsed
Nd:YAG laser
(a) incomplete cutting due to high taper angle value at a given spot overlap and 49
(b) through cutting with same spot overlap when process conditions yield reduced taper angle.
 Effect of spot overlap on cut quality

Figure: Effect of spot overlap on cut edge profile during Nd:YAG laser cutting of 1mm
thick Hastelloy-X with 3.5 J pulse energy: (a) 80% overlap; (b) 55% overlap; (c)5040%
overlap.
 INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF LASER CUTTING

Die Board Die board cutting, used for manufacture of cartoons is one of
Cutting the first industrial applications of LBC. In this process the slots
are simply cut in the block board and the knives mounted in the
laser make groove at a faster rate.

Cutting of Quartz tubes used in car halogen lamps are cut by laser with a
Quarts significant reduction in fumes and dust, giving a saving in
Tubes fume extraction and better working environment.

Profile LBC is widely used for profile cutting in different components

cutting of display industry, typewriter parts, gun parts, medical
components, valve plates, gaskets, stained glass and many
others with a fine finish and accuracy of few microns.

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Cloth LBC is used for single cutting of thick materials such as car floor
Cutting carpets, seat covers, sailcloth, lace fabrics, materials for car airbags
and edging of embroideries.
Aerospace Hard and brittle ceramics like SiN are cut by laser, ten times faster
Materials than diamond saw. Laser cut Titanium and Aluminium alloys used
Cutting for air frame manufacture are cheaper than chemical milling.
Stainless steel pressed parts, Boron-epoxy and Ti-coated aluminium
honeycombs, and Ni-based superalloys are efficiently cut by laser.

Fibre Glass LBC gives reduction in dust, no cracking of cut edge or tool wear.
Cutting Also, cut edge obtained is superior to that of Water Jet Cutting.

Kevlar Laser can cut Kevlar that has excellent properties for industrial
Cutting purpose. Care must be taken for extraction of poisonous fumes
during cutting.
Ship With the advent of LASOX it has become possible to cut thick
Building sheetmetals above 15 mm thickness used for ship-building.

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Furniture Cutting timber of any hardness up to 4 cm depth is possible. Due to
Industry absence of mechanical forces during cutting, very tight nesting of
parts can be arranged.
Cutting Work on radioactive materials is easier with optical energy than other
Radioactive forms of energy. One advantage of laser cutting is, very little or no
Materials fumes compared to other alternatives.
Electronic Cutting of circuit boards widely use LBC. micro to nano features are
Applications possible by LBC. Careful cutting of old telephone switches allows
the recovery of the considerable precious metal contents.
Laser Punch Capability of LBC to cut holes of any shape and size, enable it to
Press replace the punch presses.
Prototype LBC has numerous applications in car industry, some examples
Car include cutting of roofs and holes for left-or-right-hand drive vehicles
Production on the assembled car, cutting of ignition coils, power-steering pump
wipers, door lock holes, dashboard appliqués, 3-D axle carriers, PVC
auto roof liners, parts for punch die sets, seat covers, exhaust systems,
air-conditioning ports, wiper blades and hydro-formed tubes

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Problems:

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References
1. Book: Advanced Machining Processes by V. K. Jain (Allied Publishers Private
Limited).
2. Book: Manufacturing Science by Ghosh and Mallik, EWP
3. Book: Steen WM (1991) Laser material processing Springer, New York.
4. Book:Chryssolouris G (1991) Laser machining—Theory and practice
(mechanical engineering series), Springer, New York
5. Dubey AK, Yadava V (2008) Laser beam machining—A review, International
Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 48:609–628.

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