Photochemical etching process is one of the metal machining processes in the manufacturing industries. Normally, photochemical etching process combines other machining processes, such as, stamping, ,tooling, plastic injection mould, electroplating, welding, cutting and polishing to make the finished goods like electronics. medical instruments and other precision equipment.
Nowadays, there are many kinds of metal materials. They are stainless steel, titanium, brass, nickel, aluminum, metal alloy etc....Almost any metal can undergo photochemical etching - even those that are traditionally hard to machine. As we all know that photo etching is the process of removing metal by chemical etching, it is ideally suited for the production of flat, relatively thin parts of unlimited specifications. We can use chemical etching process to produce prototypes, as well as low and high volume production of medical devices and laboratory researches, leaving your custom designed metal device burr free, stress free and without changing the metal’s hardness, grain structure and ductility of the finished product.
Photochemical etching process can produce the metal parts which are as small as the few microns. The material thickness will determine the smallest etched feature size and having a typical 1:1 ratio. The accuracy of any through-etched feature can be down to ±10% of the material thickness or a minimum of ±0.025mm.
For example the metal filter meshes, it is the more precision, the smaller holes the filter meshes will have. There are different shapes of holes, rectangle hole, round hole, triangle hole, square hole, and hexagonal hole. The material thickness becomes more significant. When material thickness is 0.05mm, rectangle hole is 0.08mm, round hole 0.1mm, square hole 0.12mm, triangle hole 0.12mm and hexagonal hole 0.1mm.
We need to pay attention to a number of technical considerations during chemical etching process. Material type, material thickness, hole shapes, and other complexity of designs. Each design require us to do a specific analysis and thus can create and make perfect goods as same as the designs.
