June 2007

A Technical and Economic Comparison of the Photochemical Machining of AISI 304 and AISI 201 Stainless Steels With Ferric Chloride Etchants

INTRODUCTION The retail price of alloys is dependent on the market prices of the individual metals in the alloy. Consequently, the variations and dramatic rises in daily nickel prices (see Figure 1) has created financial vulnerability for stainless steel suppliers if these price variations are not accounted for.

Prof. David Allen, Dr. Heather Almond and Sebastien Blondeau, Cranfield University