Chemical Etching Technical Information

Golden Eagle strives to meet our customers needs and keep them informed of existing and new technologies in Wet Processing. This lets our Customers best utilize our equipment to meet their needs.

Q：What materials can be chemically etched?

  • A: Most metals including stainless steel, copper, aluminum, brass, nickel, and titanium alloys. Certain plastics (e.g., polyimide) and ceramics can also be etched. Material thickness typically ranges from 0.01mm to 2.0mm.

Q: What tolerances can chemical etching achieve?

  • ±5% of material thickness or ±0.01mm (whichever is greater). Fine features down to 0.01mm are possible. Precision is maintained through controlled etching depth and photoresist masking.

Q: How does chemical etching differ from laser cutting?

  • A: Etching uses chemical baths to remove material uniformly without heat, avoiding thermal distortion. Laser cutting melts material, creating heat-affected zones. Etching excels at complex, burr-free patterns; lasers suit thicker materials.

Q: What surface finishes are achievable?

  • Matte, polished, or textured surfaces. Post-etching options include: Passivation (stainless steel)； Plating (gold/nickel)； Anodizing (aluminum)； Black oxide coating.

The photo-etching method?

  • The photo-etching method, or chemical machining on plate, is a sophisticated system for engraving small pieces, usually complicated, with minimal dimensional tolerance, able to compete very well with the traditional systems of mechanical engraving.

What's "photo-etching"?

  • The method of photo etching, or chemical machining, is a sophisticated system to cut and engrave with precision metal plates, even very thin ones, that replaces to your advantage the traditional shearing and engraving. The drawing of the requested pieces is made on the computer, and then "photographed" on the metal plate. An elaborated process of acid baths melts the margins, cuts and engraves the plates even on several levels.

In which materials can I etching use these machine ?

  • Stainless Steel,Aluminium,copper,Brass, Bronze and special bronzes, Nickel Silver, Beryl Copper, ordinary and special Steel and Stainless Steel (inox). The plates can have formats starting from 5 x 5 mm to 1500 x 3000 mm, with thickness from 0,03 to 5mm.

What type of pieces can I make?

  • PCB&FPC;Hot stamping dies;Cutting dies;Huge Decoration plate;Parts for metal glasses and ornaments for plastic glasses, parts for micromechanics and electronics, parts for fuel cells, special series of valuable objects, parts for pens and clocks, pieces for railway or motoring modelism, modern art objects, clothes accessories,jewelry, metallic labels, etc…

What do I need to produce the pieces?

  • A pattern or a design on paper, or in any of the following graphical formats: dwg, dxf (AutoCAD or other software that use these formats), rhn (Rhinoceros), stl, igs, cdr (Coreldraw), ai (Illustrator), pdf, fh11, tiff, bmp, tga, eps, etc... Even a photo can be enough, if provided with the most important dimensions.