What methods can be used to achieve metal etching in CNC lathe processing?

CNC lathe processing is a high-precision, high-efficiency automatic machine tool that uses digital information to control the displacement of parts and tools. It is an effective way to solve the problems of changing varieties, small batches, complex shapes and high precision of aerospace product parts and realize efficient and automatic processing.

What methods can be used to achieve metal etching in CNC lathe processing?

Etching can be achieved by photochemical or laser processes. Laser etching is currently a popular technology. Over time, this technology has developed exponentially. It refers to high-precision etching by using a coherently amplified beam of light on a metal surface.

Laser is the cleanest way to etch marks because it does not involve the use of caustic reagents, or noisy drilling or grinding processes. It simply uses a laser beam to vaporize material as instructed by a computer program to create precise images or text. Due to the continuous advancement of technology, its size has become smaller and smaller, and researchers or laser hobbyists can now also buy new and cheaper laser equipment.

Chemical etching:

Chemical etching is the process of exposing a portion of a sheet of metal to a strong acid (or etchant) to cut a pattern in it and create a designed shape in a groove (or cut) in the metal. It is essentially a subtractive process, using etchant chemistry to produce complex, high-precision metal parts. In basic metal etching, the metal surface is covered with a special acid-resistant coating, parts of the coating are scraped off by hand or mechanically, and the metal is placed in a bath of strong acid reagent. The acid attacks the metal parts uncovered by the coating, leaving the same pattern as the coating scrapes, and finally removes and cleans the workpiece.

Photolithography:

Photolithography refers to the photographic process of acid-resistant layers on metal surfaces. A key difference between this method and motorized or manual scratching techniques prior to chemical etching is that the applied acid-resistant layer is also treated with irradiation to create a photoresist layer (photoresist layer), which helps to create a highly Precise and reproducible patterns.

There are all kinds of machines in this field. They include fiber lasers, CO2 and UV machines.