The possibility of new material processing using microorganism has been studied. In these studies, it was investigated new techniques to utilize bacteria as processing tools and to apply microbial metabolic reaction to material processing.
This method originated from the proposal of using the iron oxiding bacteria, Thiohachillus felloaxidans, focusing on the possibility of applying its supreme ability of corroding iron to material processing. However, T. ferrooxidans is not always suitable for material processing because it prefers a strong sour environment, and usual materials are easily damaged by these sour solutions. Therefore, bacteria that live in a neutral environment and their biochemical is more suitable for this processing. Therefore, Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) is a good candidate for this processing because MIC involves high corrosion rates in a mild environment.
A study on this new etching process for metals, applying the microbial metabolic reaction related to MIC, is reported here. The process is called "Bio-etching" and it is investigated by the following experiments. First, Staphylococcus sp., detected as the cause of the corrosion of copper was selected as the test strain. The situations of the adhesion area of Staphylococcus sp. and the occurrence of the corrosion on each culture condition were evaluated, and the optimal conditions for processing were examined. Secondly, an experiment for bio-etching to metallic copper using Staphylococcus sp. was carried out, the creation of the processing pattern corresponding to the shape provided by resist was observed.
