Chemical Etching

Well suited to thin stainless steel components requiring intricate profiles, fine apertures or surface-etched detail.

Common finishes: Strip/Foil, 2B and Brushed, depending on grade and thickness.

Laser Cutting

Suitable for thicker stainless steel components and profiles across a wider range of material thicknesses.

Common finishes: Strip/Foil, 2B, Brushed and Polished, depending on grade and thickness.

Chemical Etch + Laser

Suitable where fine surface-etched detail is required on a thicker stainless steel component with a laser-cut profile.

Common finishes: Strip/Foil, 2B and Brushed, depending on grade and thickness.

Available in thicknesses of 0.1mm to 0.5mm

Strip / Foil

Our thin stainless steel strip, sometimes referred to as foil, is primarily used for precision chemical etching where fine detail, flatness and consistency are important.

The material has a bright satin appearance with a fine, uniform grain structure and is selected to remain stable during processing.

PPD normally stocks this material in 304 grade, with availability across a range of thin gauges. For current thicknesses, please refer to our Metal Stock & Thicknesses page.

Typical uses include fine etched components, shims, screens, decorative parts and other applications requiring thin, accurately processed stainless steel.

Available in thicknesses of 0.5mm and above

Mill Finish (2B)

2B stainless steel has a smooth, lightly reflective cold-rolled finish and is widely used for general-purpose components where appearance is less critical than function.

The surface can show minor marks or variation from manufacture and handling, so it is not normally our first choice for decorative applications where a highly consistent visible finish is required.

2B is suitable for Chemical Etching, Laser Cutting and Chemical Etch + Laser, depending on the material thickness and component design.

Typical uses include functional components, brackets, screens, enclosures and general engineering parts.

Available in thicknesses of 0.5mm and above

Brushed Finish (DP1)

DP1 stainless steel has a decorative brushed surface with a clearly defined directional grain. It is well suited to components where the appearance of the exposed metal forms an important part of the finished product.

The brushed finish helps provide a consistent satin appearance and is commonly used for decorative trim, badges, nameplates, interior components and other visible applications.

Because the grain is directional, please let us know if its orientation is important to your component so that this can be considered when the parts are laid out for manufacture.

DP1 can be processed using Chemical Etching, Laser Cutting or Chemical Etch + Laser, depending on the material thickness and component design.

Available in thicknesses of 0.5mm and above

Polished Finish

This is the most reflective finish in stainless steel, also known as 'Mirror' stainless steel this is polished to remove all grit lines that results in a mirror like finish.

The reverse of this sheet is a mill 2B finish as described above.

This is finish is suitable only for laser cutting process, it is not suitable for the chemical etch process due to the chemical cleaning required in the etch process.