FOR the first time, an electron beam has been used to weld thick metal plates in air, rather than inside a vacuum chamber. The novel welding gun that made the feat possible could free aircraft designers, for instance, from having to make airframe parts that fit in the restricted space of a vacuum chamber – allowing them to make stronger parts more cheaply.
Electron beam welding can be used to join metal plates up to 20 centimetres thick – far thicker than is possible with a blowtorch or electric arc welder – because the electrons penetrate deep into the metal.
But because electron…
