[1] Selective Electron Beam Melting (SEBM) emerged as a powder bed-based additive manufacturing (AM) technology and was brought to market in 1997 by Arcam AB Corporation headquartered in Sweden.
That aspect allows classification of EBM with selective laser melting (SLM), where competing technologies like SLS and DMLS require thermal treatment after fabrication.
[citation needed] Recent work has been published by ORNL, demonstrating the use of EBM technology to control local crystallographic grain orientations in Inconel.
[6] Numerous investigations have been conducted in recent times, exploring the microstructure and characteristics of various steel grades (including austenitic, martensitic, dual-phase, and ferritic) tailored for EBM process.
The electron beam is a highly efficient power source that can be both precisely focused and deflected using electromagnetic coils at rates well into thousands of hertz.
Through the use of computer numeric controls (CNC), the molten pool is moved about on a substrate plate, adding material just where it is needed to produce the near net shape.
A wide range of engineering alloys are compatible with the EBDM process and are readily available in the form of welding wire from an existing supply base.
CE-certified acetabular cups are in series production with EBM since 2007 by two European orthopedic implant manufacturers, Adler Ortho and Lima Corporate.