Wire electron beam additive manufacturing (WEBAM) is the top metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology with a high industrialization and technology maturity index. WEBAM is regarded as a directed energy deposition (DED) process within the AM industry. WEBAM has certain advantages: (i) Operates at high vacuum. (ii) The kinetic energy is transferred to heat in the process zone. (iii) High energy density enables working with materials with high melting points and high thermal conductivity. (iv) Full control of the energy distribution is possible by customizing the energy pattern.
The ability to observe the DED process in real-time, including the melt pool behavior and the location and the melting of the wire, is a big advantage during the development of process parameters and for better understanding the process. An excellent tool for the observation of the DED process is a high dynamic range (HDR) camera with its ability to resolve a wide distribution of brightness.
