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Micromachines
Volume 17
Issue 4
10.3390/mi17040466
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Two-Step Polishing Technique for Flat and Smooth Copper Substrates by Electrochemical and Chemical Etching

by
Ke Wang
1,2,*,
Xinghua Chen
1,
Boju Hou
1,
Peng Xu
1,
Yufei Li
1,
Xutong Liu
1,
Huirong Shi
1,
Ming Zhang
1 and
Hongding Wang
1
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China
2
Key Laboratory of Precision, Special Processing and Micro Manufacturing Technology of the Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Micromachines 2026, 17(4), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040466 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 9 February 2026 / Revised: 1 April 2026 / Accepted: 7 April 2026 / Published: 12 April 2026
(This article belongs to the Section E：Engineering and Technology)
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

Methods of single-point diamond turning and chemical mechanical polishing can achieve an ultra-flat substrate. However, these methods which rely on mechanical interactions to achieve material removal can easily lead to defects such as abrasive embedding and scratches on the surface. In addition, for low-rigidity and thin-plate workpieces, clamping deformation and force deformation are critical factors affecting the machining accuracy. This paper proposes a two-step polishing chain that uses controllable electrochemical and chemical etching to correct the shape error of the workpiece. With the optimized parameters, the jet electrochemical machining (Jet-ECM), which uses the electrochemical etching mechanism, is applied to the computer-controlled optical surfacing (CCOS) to achieve the rapid convergence of the shape accuracy. In addition, electrogenerated chemical polishing (EGCP) is implemented as a follow-up process which uses the mechanism of diffusion-controlled chemical etching to reduce the mid-spatial-frequency (MSF) error caused by the computer-controlled optical surfacing. Based on this two-step polishing chain and the self-developed devices, the peak-to-valley (PV) value of the φ 50 mm workpiece (valid dimensions = 90% of the central region) is reduced from 2.678 μm to 0.384 μm. This study has great implications for further understanding the mechanism of Jet-ECM and EGCP, which expands the applications of stress-free polishing to solve the processing problems of the low-rigidity workpiece.
Keywords: electrochemical etching; chemical etching; surface roughness; shape accuracy; mid-spatial-frequency electrochemical etching; chemical etching; surface roughness; shape accuracy; mid-spatial-frequency

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, K.; Chen, X.; Hou, B.; Xu, P.; Li, Y.; Liu, X.; Shi, H.; Zhang, M.; Wang, H. Two-Step Polishing Technique for Flat and Smooth Copper Substrates by Electrochemical and Chemical Etching. Micromachines 2026, 17, 466. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040466

AMA Style

Wang K, Chen X, Hou B, Xu P, Li Y, Liu X, Shi H, Zhang M, Wang H. Two-Step Polishing Technique for Flat and Smooth Copper Substrates by Electrochemical and Chemical Etching. Micromachines. 2026; 17(4):466. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040466

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Ke, Xinghua Chen, Boju Hou, Peng Xu, Yufei Li, Xutong Liu, Huirong Shi, Ming Zhang, and Hongding Wang. 2026. "Two-Step Polishing Technique for Flat and Smooth Copper Substrates by Electrochemical and Chemical Etching" Micromachines 17, no. 4: 466. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040466

APA Style

Wang, K., Chen, X., Hou, B., Xu, P., Li, Y., Liu, X., Shi, H., Zhang, M., & Wang, H. (2026). Two-Step Polishing Technique for Flat and Smooth Copper Substrates by Electrochemical and Chemical Etching. Micromachines, 17(4), 466. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040466

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