2. Chemical milling

Chemical milling is a process that removes material by chemical action. The dissolution of the metal as it is immersed in the etching solution is an electrochemical process analogous to that involved in corrosion phenomena. To be of industrial interest, this process must be perfectly controlled to produce uniform etching at a constant rate over time.

It is commonly referred to as chemical machining in the aeronautics sector: we'll use chemical milling or chemical machining interchangeably in the following.

Compared with conventional machining techniques, chemical metal machining has a number of special features that justify its applications. These include :

• ease of machining shaped parts (developable or not);

• deformation-free machining of thin-walled parts;...