Non-traditional Machining Techniques for Fabricating Metal Aerospace Filters

Thanks to recent advances in manufacturing technology, aerospace system designers have many more options to fabricate high-quality, low-weight, high-capacity, cost-effective filters. Aside from traditional methods such as stamping, drilling and milling, many new approaches have been widely used in filter-manufacturing practices on account of their increased processing abilities. However, the restrictions on costs, the need for studying under stricter conditions such as in aggressive fluids, the complicity in design, the workability of materials, and others have made it difficult to choose a satisfactory method from the newly developed processes, such as, photochemical machining (PCM), photo electroforming (PEF) and laser beam machining (LBM) to produce small, inexpensive, light-weight aerospace filters. This article appraises the technical and economical viability of PCM, PEF, and LBM to help engineers choose the fittest approach to turn out aerospace filters.