Research progress on equipment and processes of electron beam powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

Electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF) technology, as an important metal additive manufacturing technology, has the outstanding characteristics, such as high power, high energy utilization, fast scanning speed, low forming stress, and vacuum environment forming, and attracts the increasing attention in academics and industry. In recent years, many breakthroughs have been made for EB-PBF system and process. The problems plagued the innovative development and application of EB-PBF technology, such as small forming dimensions and short life of cathode, have been preliminary solved, and multiple new forming processes and online monitoring technologies for forming quality have emerged. The additive manufacturing of complex components with high melting point, high reflectivity, brittle and difficult to machine has shown the broader application prospects. The new developments in EB-PBF additive manufacturing technology were reviewed both domestically and internationally in this article, including the system technology, forming process, and process monitoring, and the development trends, technological challenges, and application prospects were also analyzed and prospected.