A study of the efect of ferric chloride (FeC1 3) etchant on depth of etch, weight loss and susrface of zinc

Abstract

Chemical etching is the controlled dissolution of material by contact with strong chemical solution. The process can be applied to any material. The process applies a strong chemical etchant solution to remove unwanted part in the material. It is basically a corrosion-controlled process. Etching is the art of engraving with acid on metal. In hard­ ground etching the plate, usually of copper or zinc, is given a thin coating or ground of acid-resistant resin. This is sometimes smoked so that lines scratched through the resin will be clearly visible. Chemical etching process has a long history and accepted one of the important nontraditional machining processes during the last half century. The method is widely applied to machine geometrically complex parts from thin and flat of any material. It is also used to reduce weight of the materials. In this study, the chemical etching of zinc samples has been studied in Ferric Chloride (FeC13) etchant at different temperature and different concentration. This experiment was done at room temperature condition. The beneficial aspects of zinc samples were revealed from the experiments conducted. The depth of etch on the zinc samples were measured using outside micrometer. The surfaces of zinc sample before and after the experiment were characterized using Metallurgical Microscope. The plots of graphs obtained showed that the depth of etch was increased as the temperature increased. The depth of etch also increased as the concentration of FeC'3 increased.