Method of recovery of metals from etching solutions

Abstract

A method of etching and a method of regenerating a spent etching solution comprising adding metal particles to a spent etching solution to precipitate the residue metal or metals in the spent etching solution in the form of metal powders, removing the metal powders from the spent etching solution and recovering the metals in the metal powders for future use. The remaining portion of the spent etching solution can then be regenerated to produce a fresh batch of etching solution.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates generally to etching and more specifically to the recover of metals from a spent etching solution. CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0002] None STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0003] None REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX [0004] None BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0005] The concept of etching or photochemical machining is well known in the art. Typically an etching solution is selectively applied to an article to remove unwanted material through a process of chemical interaction with the metal. One of the common etching solutions comprises a ferric chloride solution (FeCl3). The ferric chloride etching solution is used to etch a variety of materials including metals that contain iron, copper and nickel. The etching is caused by the oxidative power of iron III ions. As a result of the etching process, the concentration of the nickel II and or the copper II ion increases in the etching solutions...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although the ferrous chloride can be converted back into ferric chloride the etching process produces large amounts of waste or spent etching solutions which can contain large amounts of nickel and or copper.

Images