PULSED ELECTRON BEAM CERAMIC TO METAL BONDING

HIGH ENERGY ELECTRON BEAM (1 TO 12 MEV) MATERIAL PROCESSING OFFERS A FEW IMPORTANT ADVANTAGES OVER EXISTING PROCESSING METHODS. ENERGETIC ELECTRONS ENABLE PROCESSING IN AIR WITHOUT THE NEED TO LOCATE THE PROCESSED SAMPLE IN VACUUM. THE HIGHER ENERGY ELECTRONS ALLOW FOR TREATMENT OF THICKER SAMPLES WHICH COULD ONLY BE TREATED WITH INEFFICIENT GAMMA OR X-RAY SOURCES. HIGHER ENERGY ELECTRONS CAN ALSO TREAT MATERIALS IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGES WHICH IS MORE COST EFFECTIVE. REPETITIVELY PULSED ELECTRON SOURCES MAY ENABLE PRODUCTION OF MATERIALS WITH HIGHLY IMPROVED PROPERTIES. REPETITIVELY PULSED ELECTRON SOURCES ALSO HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR HIGHER AVERAGE POWER WHICH ENHANCES THE THROUGHPUT OF THE PROCESSING PLANT. CONTROL OF PULSE SHAPE AND HIGH ENERGY ALLOWS FOR BETTER PROCESS CONTROL. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WORK WILL GENERATE MODELS FOR HIGH ENERGY ELECTRON DEPOSITION PROFILES. THE PHASE I RESEARCH IS ALSO DEVOTED TO MODELLING OF THERMAL DEPOSITION AND RADIATION CHEMISTRY. A REVIEW OF PROCESSING METHODS WILL BE CARRIED OUT AND ELECTRON BEAM PROCESSING WILL BE COMPARED TO OTHER PROCESSING METHODS. A FEW PROCESSING CASES WHICH ARE OPTIMIZED FOR HIGH ENERGY ELECTRON BEAM PROCESSING WILL BE SELECTED AND DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENTS WILL BE DESIGNED TO PROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS AND FEASIBILITY OF THIS TECHNOLOGY. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - ADVANCE THE STATE OF THE ART OF ELECTRON BEAM PROCESSING. ENABLE PROCESSING OPERATION IN AIR OR EVEN UNDERWATER AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY OF PROCESSING AND TYPES OF PIECES THAT CAN BE PROCESSED. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY FOR RADIATION INDUCED PROCESSING.