An electron beam furnace (EB furnace) is a type of vacuum furnace employing high-energy electron beam in vacuum as the means for delivery of heat to the material being melted. It is one of the electron beam technologies.
Electron beam furnaces are used for production and refining of high-purity metals (especially titanium, vanadium, tantalum, niobium, hafnium, etc.) and some exotic alloys. The EB furnaces use a hot cathode for production of electrons and high voltage for accelerating them towards the target to be melted.
An alternative for an electron beam furnace can be an electric arc furnace in vacuum.
Somewhat similar technologies are electron beam melting and electron beam welding.
References
Electron beam furnace Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA