Aluminum Etching: Comparing Acids & Techniques for 0.3-0.5mm Plate (200x200mm) & PCB Foil

Good morning,
I would like to etch the pattern through on an aluminum plate and I'm not a chemist ? I am asking for help.
Aluminum plate: 0.3 or 0.5 mm 200x200mm

Reading the topic I read that:

1. It is worth buying the foresist film for PCBs
- This PCB foil is etched:
H2SO4 - Sulfuric acid (VI)
H2O2 - Hydrogen peroxide / Perhydrol
CH3COOH - Methane carboxylic acid / Ethane acid / Acetic acid)

3. Aluminum etches:
- H3PO4 - Phosphoric acid (V)
- HNO3 - Nitric acid (V)
- CH3COOH - Methane carboxylic acid / Ethane acid / Acetic acid
- HF - Hydrogen fluoride
- NaOH - Sodium hydroxide
- hydrofluoric acid
- iron-chloride-iii
- or according to this movie: watch? v = 5eCDTgaxp58 such a mixture:
a) copper sulfate / cuso - 20gr
b) baking soda / sodium bicarbonate - 2 tablespoons
c) salt

I have a few questions:
1. Which digestion acid is best to choose:
- one that can be ordered online,
- I want to do the experiment at home
- one that I can pour into a plastic / metal / glass bowl and will not blow through ?
- one that will digest aluminum through!
- one that does not digest PCB foil
2. The resulting pattern on aluminum must ultimately be polished to a mirror - how to do it? Sandpaper?

Thank you very much for all your help.

What pattern is this? By the way, it's a milling machine or a laser.

My idea is a bad idea ... too thick material, the edges will come out uneven and in general the quality of it will be under the dog ... the easiest way to give this material to the first better company dealing with metalworking - waterjet cutters are already popular in them and how I know life the cost may be small.

Thanks for the answers
Aluminum plate: 0.3 or 0.5 mm too thick? Can you buy any thinner?
The pattern is a small company logo, a lot of lowercase letters.
I treat the whole project as fun besides, thin aluminum is said to be able to cut the laser problem.

NaOH-based baths are used for pickling aluminum.

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

besides, such thin aluminum is supposedly a problem with laser cutting

Who said that?

I wrote about waterJet - water cutting.

Thank you very much for the hints

@rumpelek - I was referring to the first answer (user @kkknc ) because I have friends in my company from laser machining.

@Freddy

Quote:

NaOH-based baths are used for pickling aluminum.

as I wrote in the first post - all these acids digest aluminum - the question is if anyone knows which is best for me

Quote:

Who said that?

An industry man. He ate his teeth on lasers and said that the thin aluminum bends (?) (But we did not talk about the exact thickness of the sheet, so maybe he thought about thin as aluminum foil )

Thanks again for the answers.

NaOH, it's not acid

Do you know if it will etch aluminum well?
I would like exactly something like aluminum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilJg-MfYg2s

http://galwanizernie.pl/procesy-galwaniczne/trawienie-metali/

@Freddy - thank you very much for help. I have already done research on the net - I gave everything in the first post. Now I would like to get help from a practitioner who will tell me what to use. Will NaOH process such a plate through, or will I wait half a year, for example
On average, it would be wise to buy all acids (and bases) ) and testing one after another. Not with my lack of experience

It all depends on the thickness. You have practical information, supported by theory.

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

I have already done research on the net - I gave everything in the first post

Something bad .
By entering "aluminum digestion" in the first answer you get the link I gave and information that aluminum is digested with alkalis, not acids.

Thank you very much for your interest in the topic and for trying to help,
@Freedy

Quote:

Something bad .
By entering "aluminum digestion" in the first answer you get the link I gave and information that aluminum is digested with alkalis, not acids.

Noto, do not base your opinion on one link and accuse others of doing something poorly - it's a simple way to quarrel online

I don't know if these links are true:
https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic2281315.html#10829669 - acids
http://www.lerncoach.li/laboratorium-2/wytrawianie- uprzedrzchni-metali-stali-aluminium - acids
https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic48993.html#231500 - acids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eCDTgaxp58 - a mix from the first post
https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic666062.html#3441656 - here a valuable post

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

Noto do not base your opinion on one link and accuse others of doing something poorly ...

I based on my many years of experience and supported a link to the thematic page, but if you know better and think that I am wrong, I am sorry for that - keep looking for yourself.
If there is no information about NaOH in any of the links and you think YouTube is reliable, please forgive, but keep looking for yourself.

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic666062.html#3441656 - here a valuable post

Quote:

I agree with this several times prubowalem and I can say that the plate digests faster [but now I have an aquarium and grass in b327]

ps: once when I had a lot of chloride I did such an experiment with aluminum [I wanted to check if I could make an "aluminum" plate ], I say in advance -> it doesn't work, but I noticed that aluminum digests quickly [Readuje] and sei wytwaza A lot of energy, which heats the chloride to around 40 ° C , I just don't know if it would be possible to use such chloride again, but it warmed up very quickly

Very valuable, especially for Professor Miodek.

PS. Wait, I will post on YouTube a video about digestion of aluminum in distilled water with the addition of pepper

Returning to the question from the topic:
Will NaOH etch a 0.3mm aluminum plate through?
can it be done at home without severe burns?
I would like exactly something like aluminum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilJg-MfYg2s

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

Will NaOH etch a 0.3mm aluminum plate through?

Etching.
The digestion rate will depend on the NaOH concentration, solution temperature and mixing intensity.
There is only a small problem ..... concentrated sodium hydroxide dissolves both unexposed and exposed photosensitive film.

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

An industry man. He ate his teeth on lasers and said that the thin aluminum bends (?) (But we did not talk about the exact thickness of the sheet, so maybe he thought about thin as aluminum foil )

The laser will tear. Too thin sheet for laser cutting, and too thick for ablation.

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

Will NaOH etch a 0.3mm aluminum plate through?

Etching. But not selectively.

Why aluminum? This thick sheet will bend like stupid. Brass would be 100 times better. I do not see a real possibility of etching aluminum components at home.

Freddy wrote:

that aluminum is digested with alkalis, not acids.

Not true! Etched with diluted nitrogen. However, this will be annoying, because before etching you need to remove oxide from the digested surface. The rules are not entirely true either. Only strong Brönsted bases can complex aluminum oxide.

Added after 1 [minutes]:

PawelSloniewicz wrote:

2. The resulting pattern on aluminum must ultimately be polished to a mirror - how to do it? Sandpaper?

First paper from 100 to 2500 (wet) and finally a minimum of 60 paste.