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Chemical Engraving Process

Chemical engraving is a highly precise manufacturing process that is used to make metal parts with a high level of accuracy. It is a type of manufacturing method that is also being referred by many as chemical etching, photo etching, electro-chemical etching and a lot of other names as well. All of these names are referring to the same manufacturing process.

What is Chemical Engraving?

Chemical engraving is a manufacturing process with a high subtractive accuracy that utilizes baths of temperature that regulated etching chemicals to selectively eradicate material to make metal parts with high accuracy in any shape that is needed. Apart from that, chemical engraving is much more cost-effective, has a lower lead time combined with more flexibility for the design as well as does not requires deburring compared to other types of micro-manufacturing methods such as EDM, Stamping, Laser Cutting, Water Jetting and CNC. It is the perfect choice for the manufacturing of high precision metals regardless of industrial production or prototyping.

How Does the Chemical Engraving Works?

The chemical engraving process may be summarised in a few simple steps which consist of cleaning, laminating, exposing, developing, engraving, as well as stripping followed by a thorough inspection that will be done automatically on all of the components. A substrate, which is a sheet of the desired types of materials will first be laminated with one layer of resists that are light-sensitive. The photo-sensitive resists that are selected will then be exposed to rays of ultraviolet lights and it will be developed to get the desired image of the product. The metallic product is acquired soon after the previously patterned substrate is being exposed to a type of etching solution which will selectively eradicate the parts that are not protected from the substrate. To get the ideal result, each step of the process is carried out in well-controlled operating conditions.

Why Should I Use Chemical Engraving?

Chemical engraving provides you with a highly competitive alternative from large scale production to prototyping compared to the traditional machining processes like an electro-discharge machine (EDM), CNC machining, pressing, stamping, wire erosion as well laser cutting. This is because chemical engraving has much better scalability as well as tooling. A lot of prototypes may be made from your drawings in just a matter of days. This will also increase the efficiency of your work and hence enables you to work more effectively than you could ever do before.