capabilities and applications of Electroforming
Learn what can be achieved with Electroforming
create accurately defined holes
Electroforming is an Additive Manufacturing process particularly suitable to create accurately defined holes, from single hole products to meshes of millions of holes for atomization.
Veco has two major technologies to offer, leading to different hole shapes: bell mouth (tapered) and cylindrical (straight) hole shape.
Features:
- Miniaturized holes down to 2 micron
- Ultra-precise hole geometry
- Well-controlled pitch accuracy
- Ultra-smooth surface free of burrs or blocks
highly accurate optical parts
Ultrafine detail and tight tolerances achievable with Veco’s precision technologies are perfectly suited to the optical industry, where absolute accuracy is critical to the majority of applications. We manufacture customized, highly accurate optical parts for a wide variety of micro-optical applications.
Features
- Excellent edge definition and roundness
- Various plating finishes possible
- Exceptional shape accuracy and consistency
- Customized design and development
high precision metal parts
With the world-leading precision solutions in house, there are endless possibilities for high precision metal parts: nozzles, slits, any freeform geometries, and complex patterns. If you can imagine it, we can make it.
Features
- The Additive Manufacturing process (atom by atom)
- Fracture free surface
- Completely smooth edges
- Low bend radius down to 0.04mm
- High aspect ratio
multi-layer parts to meet complex design demand
Electroforming is known as a high precision manufacturing process for 2 dimensional thin metal parts, but that’s not the full picture. Nowadays with the trend of miniaturization components are becoming smaller and more complex. Some high precision metal parts demand not only extreme accuracy but also delicate structure in all dimensions. This is when multi-layer electroforming comes into play.
Electroforming is not limited to producing 2D structures because additional layers can be grown by repeating the deposition process. These additional layers can reinforce thinner electroformed parts, making them less fragile thus easier to handle. Moreover, the fact that additional layers can be grown in different directions means unique delicate structures can be made to meet complex design demand.
The multiple layer capability brings new possibilities for many industries that demand complex precision metal solutions. Inkjet nozzle plate is one example. In this case, the nozzle plate was electroformed using the overgrowth method (plating defined), and subsequently the ink chamber was electroformed using the thick resist method (photo defined), resulting in high performance digital printing.
alteration of material properties
Electroforming allows for alteration of material properties, so different material properties can be achieved with the same material. Such alteration can be achieved by manipulating the crystal structure of the material. By changing the deposition conditions, amorphous nickel deposits can be made; such nanocrystalline material is usually very smooth and hardly ferromagnetic. Thus by controlling the material’s structure, the component’s magnetic properties become almost non-existent, so non-magnetic components can be made of a material that usually has magnetic properties.
Besides magnetism, material hardness can also be controlled with Electroforming by manipulating its crystal structure. A material that contains crystals of only a few nanometers in size will turn out hard. As the size of the crystals increase, so will the softness of the material.
When altering material properties doesn’t suffice, for example if high corrosive resistance is demanded for special application, or a particular material is necessary to be in contact of human skin, that’s when coatings comes in. A layer of material such as palladium or gold can be coated followed by Electroforming process.
got ideas, questions or just want to learn more about electroforming? get in touch!