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Biomedical welding includes welding components that are meant to interact or integrate with the human body. Titanium is often used for this type of welding due to its biocompability within the body. Laser welding titanium can be difficult due to its reflectivity, but EB Industries has employed a number of proprietary processes to overcome this.  

Electron beam and laser welding are 2 of the most common forms of welding used in the medical industry. This is because of the minimal and precise heat input, ability to weld difficult materials and shorter processing times equipped to handle larger volumes. Also, the repeatability of the process ensures that all welds will achieve the high quality levels required for its applications.  

There are less certifications required in the medical industry as compared to the aerospace industry but weld technicians in the medical industry should be properly trained to run the equipment. It’s more common to have quality certifications such as ISO 13845 in the medical industry as it proves that your quality system is capable of consistently producing medical assemblies.  

Medical welding is the process of welding components used in the medical industry like surgical instruments, implantable as well as instruments used in orthopedics and the dental industry. Laser welding is the most common form of welding used in the medical industry due to its quick cycle times, cosmetic appearance and minimal and precise heat input.  

There are several processes used in welding semiconductors: 

• 1. Electron Beam Welding 
  2. Laser Beam Welding 
  3. Orbital Welding 

Each of these processes has its own advantages and disadvantages so every application is different depending on which process would be best.  

Orbital welding is a welding process where the welding tool is rotated 360° around a stationary workpiece. The part is clamped in a welding fixture and the orbital welding head is positioned at the weld joint so that the welding arc can orbit around the workpiece. This process can be done using either a consumable or non-consumable electrode and can be highly automated.  

• Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-effect Transistor (MOSFET) – These are used for switching or amplifying signals. They are the most commonly used semiconductor device due its ability to change conductivity with the amount of voltage that is applied. 

• Diode – These are used as a one-way valve in a circuit which allows current to flow in one direction.  

• Transistors – These are used to control, amplify or switch electrical signals and power.  

• Smartphones 

• Televisions 

• Computers 

• Washing machines 

• Refrigerators  

An example of a semiconductor is silicon. The reason silicon is a semiconductor is because it can be used as a conductor at times and an insulator at other times. This makes it critical in the semiconductor industry and is why it is widely used in electronic devices.  

The main purpose of a semiconductor is to partially conduct electricity which allows the device to act as a switch turning current on and off. This is essential for the functioning of electronic devices. The manufacturing of these components is very difficult which is why it involves many processes and very expensive equipment requiring components to be welded to function.  

Semiconductors are named as such because they partially conduct electricity and function in between a conductor and an insulator. This makes semiconductors important because they can act as a switch which turns current on and off which is essential for the functioning of electronic devices.  

Semiconductor welding is the welding of components and assemblies involved in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices such as transistors and integrated circuits. Semiconductors are the backbone of virtually all modern technology. If electricity flows through it, there are semiconductors in it: diodes, transistors, integrated circuits, chips and all types of microelectronic assemblies. Things as seemingly simple as the lights in our houses are semiconductor driven.Critical to the assembly of these ubiquitous devices is welding. Further, critical to the manufacturing of semiconductors are the machines themselves. Semiconductor manufacturing relies on chemical compounds that can be highly reactive and toxic. Welds in semiconductor manufacturing machinery are typically demanding.

Whether on the part itself or the machine making the part, the semiconductor industry demands welds that evince high levels of accuracy and precision. The joins involved can be miniature in scale, measured in nanometers, but can also be on much larger assemblies used in the chip manufacturing machines themselves. Further, the welded connections made must have high reliability and strength to withstand whatever stresses the semiconductor will encounter in its service life, or the machine will undergo during countless duty cycles. 

Aircraft exhaust systems are great candidates for electron beam welding as stainless steel and Inconel are typically employed which are easily weldable using either process. The industry has more widely accepted electron beam welding due to its longevity and its implementation of a vacuum chamber which protects the welds from outside contaminants like oxygen and moisture. 

Aircraft exhaust pipes tend to be made from stainless steel or a nickel-based alloy called Inconel. Stainless steel is used for its corrosion-resistant properties which is useful due to the high temperatures the exhaust systems experience. Inconel is used because it’s also corrosion and oxidation resistant as well as its ability to handle extreme weather conditions like temperature.   

An aerospace welded is anyone who performs a welding service on products being used in the aerospace industry. These parts include sensors, valves, gears as well as many other assemblies.  

There are a number of welding certifications in the aerospace industry with the most popular being AWD D17.1. This specification details the qualification requirements for various forms of welding. Companies who certify their welders to this standard or equivalent are well-equipped to handle difficult welding projects. In addition, a NADCAP certification from PRI shows that the specific welding process has been audited and verified by a third party. ISO 9001 and AS9100 prove that a company welding has a quality system that can support the manufacturing of critical aerospace components and assemblies.  

Aerospace welding can be difficult due to the materials involved, stringent requirements and time sensitivity. EB Industries is well equipped at all these, due to our decades of experience welding difficult materials and material combinations as well as our multitude of quality certifications and expedited service offerings. We can handle most welding applications with several types of welding under one roof.  

Laser hermetic sealing (LHS) is used in the aerospace industry when a hermetic seal is required on an assembly to protect it from harsh environments such as extreme temperatures and pressures. The assemblies are first vacuum baked to remove moisture as well as to backfill the assemblies with the required gas combination. They are then laser welded in an inert environment glovebox. After welding, the parts are visually inspected and leak tested to ensure the weld is hermetic and will survive the necessary

Electron beam welding is used in the aerospace industry to handle difficult and exotic materials and dissimilar metal combinations. Electron Beam welding is an exact process due to the narrow beam, so it does well in avoiding damaging nearby electronics and minimizing the heat input into an assembly. This allows the weld to maintain about 97% of the strength of the base materials. Electron Beam welding is also a very repeatable process which maintains the consistency and quality of the welds over hundreds and thousands of parts in a batch.  

TIG welding is used in the aerospace industry to weld structural components as well as in difficult to access weld joints. TIG welding is also used when the components to be welded have a large gap that needs to be filled using filler material.  

There are several types of welding that is used in the aerospace industry:  

• • Electron Beam Welding: Electron Beam welding is used in the aerospace industry when there are difficult or dissimilar metals involved, deeper penetration / more strength requirements or when outside contaminants like oxygen need to be kept away from the weld pool. 

• • Laser Beam Welding: LBW is used in many of the same applications as EBW but is cheaper due to not requiring a vacuum chamber. LBW is a much quicker process used for high volume welding applications when the drawing specifications allow for it.  

• • Tungsten Inert Gas Welding: TIG welding is used in structural applications or in difficult to access weld joints. TIG welding does produce a lot of heat, so it has to be precisely controlled to avoid adding stress to the part or damaging sensitive components.  

Aerospace welding is the implementation of various welding processes used in the manufacturing of aerospace components and assemblies. There are many types of applications in the aerospace industry that require welding including sensors, valves, gears and many others.  Learn more at https://ebindustries.com/aerospace-welding .

Laser welding is a fusion welding process that utilizes a laser beam as the energy source in order to weld together metals or thermoplastics. It’s known as a high density beam process which can be used to join thick materials with deep and narrow welds. Learn more at https://ebindustries.com/what-is-laser-welding/.

Laser beam welding can be done without the use of filler metal, although fillers can be used for welding crack prone alloys as well as heat sensitive components. For deeper welds in crack prone aluminum alloys, for example, we have proprietary welding techniques that allow us to weld without the need for filler materials.

The laser’s ability to deeply penetrate into materials results in purer, stronger welds than traditional welding techniques. Not only is laser welding typically stronger than MIG, it’s three to ten times faster, welding relatively thick joints with ease, all without requiring multiple passes or high heat, which can diminish the strength of the welded materials.

The typical defects that can occur in laser welds are solification cracking, the formation of shrinkage cracks during the solidification period of welded metal; porosity, the presence of cavities in the weld metal that form because of the freezing in of released gas from the weld pool as it solidifies; and spatter, droplets of molten material generated near or at the welding arc.

Given the small and precise nature of the laser beam, very small and thin materials can easily be welded together, making it perfect for precision and micro parts welding, medical devices, crack sensitive material welding, as well as any application that requires accuracy, low heat and high weld performance.

Electron beam welding often takes place in a vacuum, since the beam can be scattered by the presence of gas molecules. In doing so, impurities such as oxides and nitrides are eliminated, while impurities in the materials are vaporized. This results in exceptionally clean welds, making it the perfect process for joining a vast range of metal alloys.

Laser welding is capable of making very strong, pure welds. The laser’s focused beam generates less heat than traditional welding processes, which means heat transfer to the part is lessened and its structure is less affected, providing a much higher weld quality with greater tensile and bending strengths.

Electron beam welding is used to make extremely strong joins in metals. Electron beam welds typically retain 95% of the strength of the base material. The welds are also extremely pure because the process usually takes place in a vacuum. Impurities, such as oxides and nitrides are eliminated, and impurities in the materials are simply vaporized. Electron beam welding is an appropriate process for welding difficult to weld materials like titanium, refractory metals, and also hard to weld combinations of materials, like nickel to copper, etc. Electron beam welds can be applied to joints that are physically miniature or huge – the limiting factor is the size of the welder’s vacuum chamber. There are many applications for electron beam welding, including aerospace and defense, energy, automotive and marine. As an example of the versatility of electron beam welding, a spacecraft can have electron beam welded, load bearing structural components, as well as tiny electron beam welded thruster valves and control systems.

Electrons are generated (via an electron gun) and then accelerated to very high speeds using electrical fields. This high speed stream of electrons is then focused using magnetic fields and precisely applied to the materials to be joined. As the electrons impact the materials their kinetic energy is converted to heat, which causes the metals to melt and flow together. Electron beam welding generally occurs in a vacuum as the presence of gas molecules can scatter the beam. The net result is a very strong weld (maintaining up to 95% of the base materials’s strength), that is also dramatically free of impurities.

Electron beam welding is a fusion welding process that uses a beam of high velocity electrons to produce a weld. It can achieve excellent weld depth as well as precise control – from 0.001 inches to 2 inches and more, all the while having very high depth-to-width ratio, allowing for deep and extremely narrow affected zones, thus minimizing material shrinkage and distortion and allowing welds to be made in close proximity to components that are heat sensitive. Electron Beam welds are also very strong and can maintain up to 95% of the strength of the base materials. Because it takes place in a vacuum environment, this type of welding has a high purity level, resulting in extremely clean welds which makes it ideal for joining a wide range of metal alloys. Its versatility makes Electron Beam welding perfect for joining refractory and dissimilar metals which would not be weldable using the conventional welding process. Our CNC controlled welders ensure meticulous control and repeatability at feed rates from 1 to 200 inches per minute.

Electron beam welding generally occurs in a vacuum, and the size of the vacuum chamber can limit the size and amount of parts that can be welded. Further, creating the vacuum in the chamber requires pumping, and depending on the size of the chamber, that can take a long period of time. After the vacuum has been established and the parts welded, the chamber is then brought back to normal pressure, which again adds time to the process. The weld “head” in an electron beam welder is usually fixed, and the parts to be welded have to be maneuvered into position under the beam. Due to the vacuum needed and the physical danger presented by an electron beam – it emits X-rays – an operator cannot be in direct contact with the parts. Hence, parts must be moved remotely, either through manual controls or CNC, during the welding cycle. Depending on the design of the part and the complexity of the welds involved, electron beam welding can range from very expensive to very cost effective. There are no downsides to the quality of an electron beam weld, however.

EB Industry’s electron beam welding service focuses on welding to industry specifications. There are three standards we apply most often to our Electron Beam welding work, all of them originally created specifically for applications where exceptional weld quality is an absolute necessity and weld failure is not an option: AMS 2681 (Welding, Electron Beam), AMS 2680 (Electron Beam Welding for Fatigue Critical Applications) and AWS D17.1 (Specification for Fusion Welding for Aerospace Applications). While AWS standards are excellent for process assurance, EB Industries’ AS9100 certification ensures these standards are consistently applied.

Generally electron beam welders require a physically large, extremely high voltage power supply and a vacuum chamber, which makes the equipment very heavy and basically unmovable. There are partial vacuum electron beam welding machines that do not require a chamber, and there are no vacuum electron beam welders, but the resultant weld does not have the outstanding characteristics of a weld made by an electron beam welding in full vacuum.