Microsecond Intense Electron Beams for Industrial Applications

For at least three decades, a large body of research has shown that microsecond intense electron beams can be successfully applied for the enhancement of properties of materials such as corrosion and wear resistance, micro hardness, surface polishing, breakdown electrical field strength, etc. For realization of these applications, electron beams with corresponding parameters are required, such as power density of 0.5-6 MW/cm², electron kinetic energy of 50-400 keV, and pulse duration of 10-200 μs with a cross-sectional area, which has to be adapted to the particular application. In this paper, the characteristics and design features of two different electron beam facilities are presented. One of these facilities was designed to produce cylindrical beams for the improvement of operational properties of aircraft engine blades. This facility was the first of its kind to implement this industrial process (Chernyshev Machine Building Enterprise, Moscow). The other facility was designed for the production of a radial converging beam for the improvement of the corrosion resistance of fuel rod claddings in nuclear reactors with heavy liquid metal coolant. This contribution is also focused on electron beam physics describing the recent experimental and numerical research results and measures on the optimization of electron beam parameters.