Industry small white don't panic!Understand these 7 steps to easily understand the etching process

"Etch", as the name implies, USES corrosive acids to etch and etch patterns on the surface of metals or other materials.As a new way of chemical cutting, etching has made outstanding contributions to the development of modern science and technology.So how exactly do etchings form?

Etching process and principles

Material opening → plate cleaning → dry film or coating → oven drying → exposure → development → etching → stripping → detection of packaging

1. Substrate cleaning and surface treatment

Objective: to remove anti-rust oil, lubricating oil, emulsion and sweat grease on etched workpiece surface.Components: sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate and other alkaline substances and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate.If the cleaning is not complete, the protective film falls off in the coating process, and the bonding force between the protective film and the etched workpiece causes the protective film to fall off in the etching process, causing damage to the workpiece.

2. Coating (coated with photosensitive ink)

Full plate printing, brush coating, roll coating or spraying can be used, the uniformity of the ink coating requirements are not very high, to ensure that the coating in etching, etching products need to protect the full protection of the site.This process and the coating process in the production of screen plate is similar, but the production of screen plate is in the screen sand coated with photosensitive ink, and the metal etching is directly coated on the surface of the workpiece.

3. Bake in the oven

Oven drying adopts full automatic production line, depending on the metal material requirements and thickness, drying time varies, the purpose is only to prevent photosensitive ink from sticking to the film during exposure, and to operate in a dark room.

Exposure of 4.

When exposed to ultraviolet light, the photoinitiator can absorb light and decompose into free radicals, which can then trigger non-polymerized monomers to undergo polymerization cross-linking reaction, and the reaction results in the formation of large molecule structure insoluble in dilute alkali solution.Exposure is generally carried out in the automatic surface exposure machine.Exposure imaging quality in addition to dry film light to resist the performance of the agent, the choice of light source, exposure time control, photographic plate quality, are important factors that affect the quality of exposure imaging.

5. Development

Exposure sheet steel in developing machine development, with 12 ‰ 5 ‰ ~ Na ₂ CO ₃ solution, developing temperature 30 ℃ to 40 ℃, when developing reactive carboxyl - COOH and Na ₂ CO ₃ reaction, generate hydrophilic groups - COONa, so as to dissolve the unexposed part down, and the exposed part of the dry film will not be dissolved, remain in the panel on the design part of the base material is not carved by liquid.

6. Etching

Etching, also known as photochemical etching, refers to the removal of the area to be etched by lithography and development.Contact with the chemical solution during etching, use two positive figures and dissolve the corrosion through chemical grinding on both sides to form a concave or hollow molding effect.Chemical etching is very targeted, specifically refers to controlled corrosion, is the metal through a chemical method can be controlled processing method.

7. Deinking (film removal)

NaOH is highly corrosive when it is heated to about 50℃ with a high concentration of NaOH(1-4%). It reacts with the photosensitive material on the surface of the substrate to peel off the photosensitive material.

In the high-end aerospace industry, chemical etching has become a standard processing method for manufacturing large integral structures such as aircraft, outer space vehicles and missiles.In the modern electronic industry, especially in the production of various integrated chips, chemical etching is irreplaceable by other processing methods.In the general civil field, more and more electronic cases, instrument panels, nameplates and so on are produced by chemical etching processing method, in order to improve the decoration and grade of their products and enhance the competitiveness of their products in the market.If you want to know more etching knowledge and etching industry information, please feel free to contact us!Enquiry hotline: 0513-81601668