Electron beam texturing (EBT) is a technology used to apply
roughness to the surface of
rolling mill
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
cylinders by impinging the surface of these cylinders with a modulated
electron beam
Cathode rays or electron beam (e-beam) are streams of electrons observed in discharge tubes. If an evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, glass behind the positive electrode is observed to glow, due to ele ...
. The beam locally melts the surface of the cylinder, producing crater-like depressions.
The technology was originally developed by the German company
Linotype-Hell
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company is a corporation founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine (), a system to cast metal type in lines (linecaster) invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It became the world's leading manufacture ...
for application in the printing industry, but eventually found its successful application in the metal rolling industry, where it is competing with alternative texturing technologies, such as
electrodischarge texturing.
Electron beams in manufacturing
Metal forming
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