Precision Micro to highlight titanium etching at 2017 Precision Fair

Precision Micro, Europe’s leading supplier of photo etching, will be exhibiting at the 17^th edition of the Precision Fair, Veldhoven, the Netherlands between 15-16 November 2017 (Booth 11). A regular exhibitor at the Precision Fair, Precision Micro’s attendance reflects its market-leading position in the field of precision metal machining through its propriety etching process.

Building on its successful attendance in 2016, Precision Micro expects further interest in its ability to photo-etch titanium. Titanium is often the go-to material in the aerospace, electronics and medical sectors because of its superior strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, extensive temperature range and low thermal expansion coefficients. These attributes make it challenging to machine with conventional sheet metalworking, and its corrosion resistance makes it impossible to etch with standard etch-chemistries.

Precision Micro’s titanium etching service comes with all the existing benefits of photo etching, producing burr and stress-free parts with clean profiles and no heat-affected zones. The process is fast and economical with lead-times measured in days, not weeks, and it is precise down to the most exacting levels of accuracy, even on the most complex of parts.

At this year’s Precision Fair, Precision Micro will be focusing on the advantages of photo-etched titanium for heat exchanger plates used in wafer fabrication.

Heat exchangers are typically made of multiple thin metal plates machined with complex grooves or channels which enable fluid flow. Whilst CNC machining and stamping can be used to machine these channels, these traditional metalworking technologies have limitations, such as compromising flatness and introducing stresses and burrs. Single-point machining processes and presswork tooling can also be slow to produce and expensive.

Photo etching removes metal simultaneously, meaning complex, bipolar flow fields can be etched to 0.025mm, and with accuracy to ±0.025mm.

Digital photo-tooling — which is low-cost and quick to produce — means set-up costs are minimal and design engineers can vary the size and shape of plate features without additional cost or hugely increased lead times.

Precision Micro also offers a number of added value plate heat exchanger technologies, such as diffusion bonding, which allows complex cooling channels to be incorporated into heat exchangers at a fraction of the price of laser drilling.

Precision Micro invites attendees at this year’s Precision Fair to meet with its experienced engineering team who will demonstrate the versatility of photo etching, and show how its use can stimulate innovative design and facilitate the manufacture of otherwise prohibitive or impossible products and components.