Thu, 08 October, 2020
TWI Technology Fellow, Colin Ribton, was recently invited to present at EBAM 2020, the 3rd International Conference on Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing, held on 5-7 October.
Organised by the Chair of Materials Science and Engineering for Metals (WTM) at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Cluster of Excellence Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM), the aim of this annual event is to bring the EBAM community together by providing an opportunity to discuss the recent challenges, developments and accomplishments surrounding the technology.
With this year’s event held virtually, the online platform gave delegates the flexibility to watch the presentations at their own convenience, while still holding live Q&A discussion sessions across the three days. There were some 180 delegates in attendance, a growth of some 20% from the previous year.
Colin’s presentation, titled ‘Electron beam guns and optics for additive manufacture’, focused on the demanding requirements for electron beams in powder additive manufacturing and the design tools and methods to achieve these qualities. Examples were given of design work carried out for Arcam and Freemelt amongst others.
Colin gained his doctorate from Brunel University, researching optimisation of electron optics design. At TWI, he’s involved in the design of electron optics and high voltage components, real-time control system architecture, and the design of digital and analogue electronics, with the majority of his research focusing on the application of electron beams to 3D printing for the aerospace and medical industries.
