Chemical etching is a preferred subtractive manufacturing method to produce high-precision metal filter meshes. Unlike mechanical punching, this process forms uniform micro holes on thin metal sheets without mechanical force, avoiding burrs, material deformation and stress.

Process Flow

1. Material preparation: Select thin metal raw sheets including stainless steel, nickel, copper, titanium and molybdenum.
2. Surface cleaning: Remove grease, oxide and contaminants to ensure photoresist adhesion.
3. Photoresist lamination: Apply light-sensitive photoresist film on both sides of metal sheet.
4. Exposure & development: Transfer custom mesh pattern via UV exposure, wash away unexposed resist to expose the area to be etched.
5. Chemical etching: Spray etchant to dissolve the exposed metal, forming precise filter holes.
6. Stripping & post-treatment: Strip remaining photoresist, then perform cleaning, passivation and inspection.
7. Final quality check: Verify aperture size, hole position accuracy, flatness and integrity.

Core Advantages

• Consistent micro apertures: Holes can go down to tens of microns with tight tolerance.
• Burr-free & stress-free structure, no secondary deburring required.
• Flexible custom pattern: Round, square, rectangular and irregular holes available.
• Works on thin foils: 0.02mm ~ 1.5mm sheet thickness supported.
• Low prototype cost, no expensive hard tooling needed.
• Excellent flatness, good corrosion resistance after surface treatment.

Application Fields

• Liquid and gas filtration for industrial equipment
• Medical filtration and microfluidic screens
• Automotive oil and fuel filter elements
• Aerospace and semiconductor particle screening
• Water treatment and chemical separation sieves

Design Notes

• Minimum hole size normally matches the base material thickness.
• Keep proper wall width between holes to maintain mesh mechanical strength.
• Specify material type, thickness, aperture, pitch and overall dimension in drawings.
• For high-corrosion environments, select 316 stainless steel, titanium or Hastelloy.