This paper reviews photochemical machining, prior to 2001, in terms of its history, materials, products, environmental impact and markets. Its future role in providing a rapid manufacturing process is also discussed.
AllenD. M.The Principles and Practice of Photochemical Machining and Photoetching, 1986 (Adam Hilger, IOP, Bristol).
2.
van LutterveltC. A.On the selection of manufacturing methods illustrated by an overview of separation techniques for sheet materials. Ann. CIRP, 1989, 38(2), 587–607.
3.
AllenD. M.GillbanksP. J.PalmerA. J.The selection of an appropriate method to manufacture thin sheet metal parts based on technical and financial considerations. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Electro-Machining (ISEM-9), Nagoya, Japan, 1989, pp. 246–249.
4.
GreinerP.Results of PCMI industry trends survey 2000. PCMI J., March 2002, 84, 27–35.
5.
AllenD. M.LerL. T.Increasing utilisation efficiency of ferric chloride etchant in industrial photochemical machining. J. Environ. Monit., 1999, 1, 103–108.
6.
AllenD. M.The etching of iron with ferric chloride solution as a model for a technical and economic comparison of three spent etchant regeneration systems. Processing Advd Mater., 1991, 1(2), 69–75.
7.
AllenD. M.WhiteH. J. A.Chlorine regeneration of ferric chloride solutions used for photochemical machining of iron. Processing Advd Mater., 1992, 2(1), 19–24.
8.
AllenD. M.LerL. T.The potential for oxygen regeneration of spent ferric chloride etchant solutions. PCMI J., Winter 1995, 59, 3–7.
9.
IBM, Regeneration of ferric chloride etchants. US Pat. 5,227,010, 13 July 1993.
10.
AllenD. M.WhiteH. J. A.Nickel etching economics. PCMI J., Fall 1992, 50, 4–11.
11.
AllenD. M.WhiteH. J. A.Nickel extraction from ferric chloride etchant. PCMI J., Summer/Fall 1994, 57/58, 15, 18–25.
12.
Toppan Printing Company, Apparatus for separating heavy metals from a ferric chloride waste fluid. US Pat. 4,940,337, 10 July 1990.
13.
ZhaoG.RichardsonH. W.An efficient method for nickel removal from iron chloride solutions. PCMI J., March 2002, 84, 5–14.
14.
AllenD. M.The PCM roadmap and an analysis of PCM markets. Calvanotechnik, March 2002, 93(3), 782–786.
15.
CaneP.The stencilâa brief explanation. PCMI J., September 2000, 78, 5–12.
16.
AllenD. M.Progress towards clean technology for photochemical machining. Ann. CIRP, 1993, 42(1), 197–200.
17.
AllenD. M.Automation in photochemical machining. In Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Automation Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, July 1994, Vol. I, pp. 185–191.
18.
AllenD. M.Electrolytisches PhotoÃtzen (in German). Galvanotechnik, June 1993, 84(6), 1873–1878.