Question

The vacuum is a mandatory requirement for which of the following non traditional machining process?

• A. Laser beam machining
• B. Water jet machining
• C. Electron beam machining
• D. Plasma Arc machining

Hint:

Any electron-based manufacturing process—such as Electron Beam Machining (EBM) or Electron Beam Welding (EBW)—requires a high-vacuum environment to prevent the electron stream from scattering via collisions with air molecules.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Electron beam machining fires a tightly focused stream of high speed electrons at the job to melt and vaporise material. Electrons are light charged particles, and if they travel through ordinary air they keep colliding with air molecules, scatter, and lose their energy before ever reaching the workpiece. To keep the beam sharp and powerful enough to do useful work, the whole process has to run inside a vacuum chamber. Laser beam machining uses light, plasma arc machining uses an ionised gas jet, and water jet machining uses a jet of water, none of these need the air removed to work. Only the electron beam process genuinely needs a vacuum, so that is the correct choice.