Chemical Etching

Avocet Sales & Marketing has served a number of industry partners with services for photo-chemical etching of metal components and other materials. Avocet works with VACCO Industries to provide premium photo-chemical and photo etching services in Northern California and Northwestern Nevada for a variety of industrial and commercial applications. Located in Southern California, VACCO Industries is the largest photo-chemical etching company in the region and has developed an international reputation for their state-of-the-art etching capabilities. They also offer an assortment of value-added, in-house secondary operations.

Photo Chemical Etching of metal components is the ideal process for the small and intricate parts that are often found in medical, aerospace, and other highly technical industries. The technology used in chemical etching metal is cost effective and quick with a high level of precision.

Photo Chemical Etching Process

1. Design Phase – drawings or concepts are specified for production. All drawings and specifications are translated into an AutoCad Photo Tool.
2. Transfer Phase – the desired material is coated with UV sensitive film (photo resist). The photo tool is then used to transfer the specified drawings onto the material of choice using a UV light source. After exposure to the UV light, the laminated sheet is developed, shedding unwanted photo resist material and hardening the desired pattern.
3. Etching Phase – the developed sheet of material is chemically etched to provide the desired pattern. Any additional photo resist is washed away and the etching phase is completed with the final inspection and packaging process.

When photo chemical etching metal sheets, it is important to consider the dimensions and tolerances that are required for any specific application. The material type and thickness can affect the tightness of tolerances as well as the size of the part, its features, and critical dimensions. The team at Avocet Sales & Marketing will assist you in developing the materials and dimensional elements for your parts.

Available Chemical Etching Metals

VACCO Industries has the ability to photo etch a number of metals. If you have questions about which type of material would be a good fit for your application, the experienced staff at Avocet Sales & Marketing can assist you!

• Aluminum
• Blue Tempered Spring Steel
• Brass
  • Alloy 230, Red
  • Alloy 240
  • Alloy 260, Cartridge
  • Alloy 268, Yellow
•  Bronze
• Carbon Steel
  • C1008
  • C1010
• Copper
  • ETP C110
  • Olin 194
  • OFE
  • OF C101
  • C102
• Cobalt
• Cupro Nickel
• Beryllium Copper Alloy 25, C172
• Beryllium Nickel Alloy 360
• Haynes
  • 25
  • 214
  • 230
• Hastelloy
  • 276
  • B-2
  • X