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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 113 (1996) 81-87

NOMB

Beam Interactions
with Materials 8 Atoms

EISEVIER

Review of industrial applications of electron accelerators

R. Mehnert
Institutfir Oberfliichenmodijzierung, Permoserstr. 15, D-04303 Leipzig, Germany

Abstract
Electron beam applications are based on different physical action principles: generation of strong local heating (electron
beam treatment), Coulomb interaction with electrons in inorganic and organic materials generating molecular excitation and
ionization (chemical processing) or defects (semiconductor treatment), and bremsstrahlung generation (materials inspection).
Mainly for research applications (pulse radiolysis, free electron laser) pulsed electron accelerators are used. The wide field of
electron beam applications is covered by four accelerator families:
- electron sources (30-150 keV) with internal scanned beam,
- single gap low-energy electron accelerators (100-300 keV),
- transformer- or Cockroft-Walton-type
electron accelerators (300-4500 keV),
- electron linear accelerators (l-10 MeV).
As application examples, the curing of coatings, electron beam degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons in air and electron
beam curing of fiber-reinforced composites are discussed in more detail.

1. A survey of industrial applications

of electron beams

When electrons with typical energies in the keV and

MeV range are absorbed in matter, secondary electrons are
produced as a result of the energy degradation process. By
Coulomb interaction of these electrons with the atoms or
molecules of the absorber, finally ions, thermalized electrons, excited states and radicals are formed.
Radiation chemical processing of monomers and polymers such as polymerization of monomer/oligomer
systems, crosslinking, grafting and degradation of polymers is
based on the generation of chemically reactive species.
Crosslinking occurs when two radicals produced on neighboring polymer units recombine. The relative molecular
mass increases and the melting point rises. Crosslinking of
polyethylene cable insulators is most widely applied. But
also the production of polymer foams, shrink tubes and
foils is industrialized since many years [ 1,2].
However, the most important application of fast electrons with typical energies between 120 and 300 keV is the
curing of solvent-free monomer/oligomer
coatings, varnishes, paints and printing inks.
Electron beam curing (EBC) is defined as: the use of
electron beams as an energy source to induce a rapid
conversion of especially formulated 100% reactive liquids
to solids. Initiation by fast electrons leads to radical or
cationic polymerization followed by intensive crosslinking.
Dense polymer networks exhibiting excellent abrasive,
scratch and chemical resistance are produced in such a
way [3-51. Worldwide more than 350 low-energy electron

accelerators are presently used for industrial EBC applications.

In a similar way, degradation of pollutants in air or
water can be initiated by electrons. Electron energies between 150 and 500 keV are sufficient to ensure electron
penetration between 0.1 and 1.5 m in air. For technical
applications electron-induced
chain reactions play an important role. Mineralization of chlorinated hydrocarbons in
air is one example of such an energy efficient electron
beam process. A chlorine radical stimulated oxidation
chain reaction is the main mechanism leading to the
mineralization products HCl, Cl,, CO and CO,. It was
shown that no hazardous radiolysis products are formed
during the irradiation process [6]. Irradiation with fast
electrons offers a universal method to degrade also many
other air pollutants such as aromatics, ethers and even
dioxines and furanes. Considerable efforts are also made to
demonstrate the technical feasibility and economical operation of the electron beam dry scrubbing process for flue
gases [7-91.
Waste water treatment makes use of the electron-induced formation of reactive species in water: solvated
electrons, OH and H radicals. Reactions of these species
with water pollutants can lead to products which are less
harmful or easily removable by filtration. In order to
penetrate water layers of at least a few millimeters, electron energies above 500 keV are needed. After a longer
period of laboratory studies, severe efforts are now made
to reduce the high investment and operational costs, to
understand the complex radiolysis processes induced in

0168-583X/96/$15.00 0 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

SSDI 0168-583X(95)01344-X

II. ELECTRON ACCELERATORS

82

R. Mehnrrt/Nucl.

Instr. und Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (19961 81-87

mixed pollutant solutions and to better control the degradation procedure. However, waste water treatment using
electron beams is still experimental [lo].
Electron-induced
defect formation in doped silicon
semiconductors is an industrial application which is based
on both the formation of atomic displacements
in the
lattice and the electrostatic interaction of fast electrons.
Homogeneously distributed defects are generated, e.g., in
silicon power switching devices allowing the fine-tuning
of switching times [ 1l].
During stopping of fast electrons in matter a few
percent of their energy is transfotmed to bremsstrahlung.
The total mass stopping power of electrons consists of the
mass collision and the radiative stopping power. The latter
determines the amount of bremsstrahlung which is generated within the absorber. Bremsstrahlung
conversion of
electrons is effective for absorbers with large atomic numbers and electron energies above 5 MeV. It is often used
for materials inspection, but also for sterilization and food
irradiation [ 121.
From the point of view of radiation damage, ionization
and excitation effects are important for gases, liquids,
organic solids, polymers, semiconductors,
ionic crystals
etc. but not for metals [13]. Low-energy electrons with
typical energies of a few ten to 150 keV are not able to
induce atomic displacements within the crystallites. The
electron energy is transformed to heat. Electron beam
power densities up to IO6 W cm-* can be obtained from
windowless electron sources, leading to immediate melting
of the metal. The large field of electron beam welding,
melting, hardening, film deposition and defect annealing
make use of the controlled heat generation by electron
beams.

Industrial Applications

e-beam treatment
of metals

There are numerous research applications

and pulsed electron
future applications

beams which
of the electron

2. Electron accelerators

used in industry

On a industrial scale, accelerators are used to generate

electrons with energies between 0.1 and 10 MeV.
The lower limit of the electron energy is due to the
energy absorption within the exit window foil. This foil
forms the interface which separates the vacuum of the
acceleration vessel from the outer atmosphere. For technical applications a minimum current density of 0.1 mA

of Electron Accelerators

polymer modification
(chemical processing)

degradation of
pollutants

- cross-linking
- grafling
- degradation

-wastewater

other applications
research applications
(related to technology)

- monomer/oligomer
systems
- composites

Fig.

beam technology.

Micro-, nano- and picosecond pulses of MeV electrons

are an excellent tool in chemical reaction kinetics. These
short electron pulses can be used to initiate chemical
reactions. Time-resolved optical absorption and emission
spectroscopy, conductivity measurements and electron spin
resonance are useful detection methods which give information about the nature of short-lived intermediates, their
reactions and kinetics. Pulse radiolysis is now used to
study chemical reaction in a time interval from 10-r to
10 s [14].
Nanosecond electron pulses with beam currents of lo2
to IO4 A are used for laser pumping, microwave generation
and plasma heating.
Picosecond electron pulses from high-quality electron
beams are excellent sources for free electron laser excitation.
In Fig. 1 an attempt is made to schematically summarize the most important industrial applications of electron
accelerators.

(lithography

electron beam
curing of

of stationary

are related to present or

- pulse radiolysis
- laser pumping
-fusion research
- FEL

- materials
inspection
- sterilization
- fine- tuning of
semicondudors
- food and feed
irradiation

I. Industrial applications of electron accelerators.

R. Mehnert /Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (1996) 81-87
Table 1
Low-energy

electron accelerators

Manufacturer,

used in industry
Cathode
configuration

Model

Electron
energy

Beam
power

Maximum
beam width

(kW)

(keV)

(ml

Energy Sciences Inc. (ESI), USA

Electrocurtain head
Electrocure

linear cathode

Radiation Polymer Co. (RPC), USA

multicathode
with 2 grids
multicathode

150-300

Polymer Physik (PP), Germany

Scanner
LEA

needle cathode

N&in-High
Scanner

Voltage Co. (NHV), Japan

Germany

MEC, Germany

980

2.3

consists of 2
accelerators

150-280

loo

2.0

linear cathode
with no control grid

120-250

60

1.0

2 cathodes
possible
used chiefly in
printing industry

linear cathode
needle cathode

150-300
300-500

200
65

1.0

12

1.5

electron accelerators

300

segmented cathode

< 150

several linear
cathodes

< 120

The low-energy electron accelerators

mentioned
in
Table 1 are well developed and can be used as computercontrolled
subsystems
in coating machines,
printing

Model

up to 4 cathode systems
per accelerator
used in printing

2.3

2.1. Low-energy electron accelerators

Manufacturer,

200

Remarks

200

cm-* window area is required. However, electron energy

absorption in the foil of more than 30% leads to foil
deterioration. For 15 pm titanium foils this limit is reached
at about 120 keV.
At electron energies larger than 10 Mev nuclear reactions can occur which should be avoided in industrial
applications.

Table 2
Medium-energy

2.3

150-300

multicathode

Broad Beam Dual

Messer Griesheim,
EBOGEN

83

1.2

presses, laminating machines etc. Their operation parameters such as electron energy, beam power, irradiation width
and dose rate can be precisely matched to the demands of
the industrial process. In all accelerators mentioned electrons are produced by a hot cathode at high-voltage potential.
In a single gap the electrons are accelerated to the
anode (usually the accelerator window). Up to electron
energies of about 300 keV a stable acceleration in only one
stage and self-shielding is possible. An upper limit of the
electron beam power is given by the maximum possible
current per square centimeter of window area which is 0.2
mA cme2.

for industrial use

Electron energy
(MeV)

Beam power
(kW)

Remarks

0.3-0.55
0.8
1.2, 1.5, 2.5, 3.0, 4.5

90

self-shielded,
beam width 1.5 m

Nissin-High Voltage Co., Japan

Co&oft-Walton

0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5,

2.0, 3.0, 5.0

40-150

beam width 1.2

or 1.8 m

NIIEFA, St. Petersburg,

UV-Series

0.25-0.5
0.75- 1.5

25-100

self-shielded,
beam width < 2 m

0.5- 1.5

20-60

beam width 1.5 m

Radiation Dynamics
Dynamitron
Serval types

Inc., USA

Russia

Institute of Nuclear Physics,

Novosibirsk, Russia
ELV-Series

60-150

II. ELECTRON

ACCELERATORS

R. Mehnert/

84
Table 3
Electron linear accelerators
Manufacturer,

for industrial

Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (1996) 81-87

use

Model

MEV Industries, Jouy-en-Josas,

Electron energy

Beam power

(MeV)

(kW1
S-10

Remarks

IO-20

S-band

10

50

L-band

2-10

6-12

L-band

10

30

L-band

2-10

0.6-5

S-band

1.o-2.5

10-35

radio frequency

France

CIRCE II/III
AECL. Kanata, Canada
IMPELA
THORIY, Moscow, Russia
Elekroonika
Scanditronix, Uppsala, Sweden
Scanditronix EB 10
Varian Inc., Palo Alto, USA
Mega Ray-Series
Inst. of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk,

Russia

30 MHz

ILU
Ion Beam Application

30

10

!%A., Belgium

107.5 MHz experimental

Rhodotron

2.2. Electron accelerators with energiesfrom

thick plastic and rubber sheets, wire and cable

insulation, plastic tubes and pipes and fiber-reinforced
composites. Crosslinking of wire and cable insulation is
the main application, followed by crosslinking of films,
foaming and vulcanization of tire components. The most
rapidly growing application, however, is electron curing of
fiber-reinforced composites.

0.5 to 5 MeV

process

This is a class of electron accelerators which have a

similar high-voltage
generation (see Table 2). Usually
transformer/rectifier
high-voltage sources are used and the
acceleration potential is built up at the sections of an
acceleration tube. Medium-energy electrons are needed to

Electron Energy (keV)

MEC, MG, ESI

CDL: current

density

limitation

assuming

a 20 cm window

Fig. 2. Curing applications

of low-energy

electron accelerators.

R. Mehnert/Nucl.

Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (1996) 81-87

2.3. Electron linear accelerators

production rates, smaller space requirements

moderate temperature increase during curing.

Electrons with energies up to 10 MeV are usually

generated by linear accelerators (see Table 3). Both traveling wave as well as resonator-type accelerators are mainly
used for sterilization, food irradiation and fine-tuning of
semiconductors. But also the curing of composite materials
plays an important role.

3. Industrial application of electron beams -

85

selected

examples
3.1. Electron beam curing
During 1994 in Europe nearly 24000 tons of acrylates
and epoxides were used as binders for electron beam (or
UV) curable coatings, varnishes, paints and printing inks.
In terms of end-use sectors, wood coatings account for
45%. Overprint varnishes and web converting consume
25% and printing inks have 15% of the market.
These three major application fields impose different
demands on the electron accelerators used for curing (see
Fig. 2).
The electron beam curing of coatings on rigid substrates chiefly furniture, doors, laminated panels, parquet, gypsum tiles, plastic sheets and metal - requires a
large range of electron energies. Some of these coatings
are on non-porous substrates and reach only masses per
unit area of less than 50 g m-. Electron energies in the
range of 150 keV are sufficient for these applications. On
the other hand, curing of higher coating masses on porous
substrates and curing of edges need electron energies up to
250 keV.
In the case of rigid substrates the production rates are
not determined by the curing step but rather by other
operations such as feeding and substrate pretreatment. Low
or moderate electron beam powers are therefore adequate.
Electron beam curing of coatings on flexible substrates
often takes place from roll to roll. Production speeds of
100-300 m mini
are common, at coating weights from 1
to 30 g rnm2. Therefore, low electron energies and moderate-to-high electron beam powers are needed.
In printing, especially in web offset printing, presses
reach speeds up to 1000 m mini.
Although the real
printing speeds are usually much lower, extremely high
beam powers are required, but relatively low electron
energies can be chosen.
As schematically shown in Fig. 2, also in the case of
one-side curing of printing inks a lower limit of the
electron energy is set by the current density limitation due
to the window foil damage.
In industry, electron beam curing is often in competition with thermal drying. The radiation process offers
significant advantages over the thermal process: No solvent release, reduction of the energy consumption,
high

and only

3.2. Electron beam degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons in air

Chloroethenes such as 1,2-cis-dichloro-,
trichloro- and
perchloroethene are frequently detected to be ground water
pollutants. In a typical ground water remediation process
the volatile chloroethenes
are removed from water by
air-stripping.
The resulting polluted air is fed to charcoal absorbers.
This classical procedure implies several limitations: 1,2cis-dichlorcethene
is only weakly absorbed on charcoal but
mainly released into air. Furthermore, chloroethenes
are
frequently accompanied by aromatic pollutants. Incinera-

Fig. 3. The mobile off gas cleaning plant AGATE-M.

II. ELECTRON ACCELERATORS

R. Mehnert / Nud. Instr. nnd Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (19961 81-87

86

tion of the absorbers containing such mixtures can lead to

dioxine generation. Electron irradiation of air polluted with
chlorinated hydrocarbons offers an alternative method to
decompose the pollutants. Electron irradiation of air produces OH radicals. These radicals add to the ethenic
double bond. The intermediate OH adduct decomposes and
forms mainly chlorine radicals. Chlorine radicals are able
to react with the chloroethenes and induce a chain reaction.
In air, oxidation takes place mainly leading to the mineralization products HCl, CO, CO, and Cl,. The acid and Cl,
can be completely removed from the off gas by dry
sorption or wet scrubbing.
In order to demonstrate the process on real ground
water remediation
sites, the mobile irradiation plant
AGATE-M was developed (Fig. 3).
The unit treats a gas flow of up to 1200 m3 hh and is
installed in a standard 30 ft container and needs only
electricity (380 V, 32 and 63 A) for operation. The waste
gas passes through the inlet filter. Then the gas can be
humidified and flows into the reaction chamber. It is
housed in a compact lead shielding,
which contains
labyrinths for incoming and outgoing ducts. As accelerator
a LEA-3-type operated at 190 keV and 60 mA is used.
After electron irradiation, acidic products are filtered by an
compact dry filter unit. Ozone is decomposed catalytically
by an active coke filter.
The clean gas is exhausted by means of a blower.
Fig. 4 shows the decomposition efficiency obtained at
a ground water remediation site in Dusseldorf (Germany)
for perchloroethene
(PCE), 1,2-cis-dichloroethene
(cis-

I, 1,l -trichloroethane
(1 ,l ,I -TCA)
and
1 ,2-DCE),
trichloroethene (TCE).
An overall removal efficiency of 90% was reached at a
beam power of 11 kW. The total costs of the treatment
including electricity, dry sorption materials, ozone catalyst,
personal and depreciation amounted to 0.34 DM per m3 of
treated ground water.
The irradiation plant AGATE-M has also been successfully used for the removal of volatile organic compounds
such as xylene and esters from an industrial paint shop.
3.3. Electron beam curing of$ber-reinforced composites
Advanced
composites,
especially
carbon-fiber-reinforced epoxies, are widely used in aircraft and aerospace
industry because of their outstanding strength-to-weight
and stiffness-to-weight
ratios, corrosion resistance and acceptable cost. Carbon-, glass- and aramide-fiber-reinforced
composites are normally produced by thermal curing of
epoxies. The carbon-fiber-epoxy
laminate has elastomechanical properties comparable to steel but only 20% of its
density. However, thermal curing is time-consuming,
can
lead to residual stresses in the product due to different
thermal expansion of the fibers, and the matrix and
through-curing is often incomplete. This leads to the release of (toxic) gaseous products. To overcome these
limitations, during the last decade considerable
efforts
have been made to develop facilities, resins and processing
methods for electron beam curing of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites 1151. A family of EB curable di- and

100

80

cis-1,2-DCEthene

TCEthene

60

1.9

4.8

7.6

9.5

10.9

electron beam power [kWj

Fig. 4. Decomposition

efficiency

obtained after electron irradiation

of chlorinated

hydrocarbons

in air.

R. Mehnert / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 113 (I 996) 81-87

multifunctional epoxyacrylates is now available from different manufacturers. This wide choice of resins can be
favorably used for a variety of composite formulations.
Polymerization and crosslinking of these resins is initiated
by electrons with typical energies of 10 MeV.
High-power linacs (e.g. the IMPELA with 10 MeV and
50 kW beam power [16]) are used to cure up to 3600 kg
h- of composite material.
The maximum thickness of the laminate treated is 2
cm.
Based on first experiences in manufacturing of EB
cured carbon-fiber composites the following advantages
should be mentioned:
- Curing is done at ambient temperature. The temperature increase and distribution inside the laminate can be
controlled.
- Curing times can be reduced.
- EB curable formulations do not autocure at ambient
temperature.
- The amount of volatiles released from the cured
composite is extremely small.
With respect to their elastomechanical properties, EB
cured composites are now approaching the parameters of
the best made conventional epoxy composites.

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II. ELECTRON

ACCELERATORS