Abstract
In this paper, a study has been described on the factor for determining the cooling behavior of electron beam (EB) welds. It was found that the heat input calculated from welding conditions did not necessarily have a good correlation with the cooling rate in EB welding because other welding process, factors not included in heat input calculation, i.e. focal point, beam oscillation and through beam current, significantly affected the cooling behavior of welds.
Therefore, the authors have proposed the weld width as the factor for estimating the cooling behavior, and investigated the relationship between the weld width and the cooling time of welds in horizontal welding position.
The good correlation was observed between the weld width (Bw1/2) and the cooling time from 800 to 500°C (Δt800→500 ), as given by Δt800→500=0.75Bw/2.25. The relationship is considered fully applicable to the EB welds made in other welding positions and by other types of welding machine.
