Fundamental Study on Bio-Machining by Bacteria

探讨了细菌生物加工作为金属去除新技术的可能性。有几种化能营养细菌，它们从无机物中获取能量，并将二氧化碳固定在空气中。其中，有一种特殊的细菌，氧化亚铁硫杆菌，它“吃”金属。实验研究了氧化亚铁硫杆菌在纯铁和纯铜上加工沟槽。实验分析清楚地表明，生物加工基本上是可能的，因为工件上产生的槽的深度大约与加工时间成比例地增加。此外，电解生物加工被证明是更有效的，因为在电场下的去除率变得更高。

The possibility of biological machining by bacteria as a new technique for metal removal is investigated in this study. There are some kinds of chemolithotrophic bacteria, that gain energy from inorganic matter and fix carbon dioxide in the air. Among them, there is a particular bacteria, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, which "eats" metals. Machining of grooves on pure iron and pure copper by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans is experimentally investigated. The experimental analysis made it clear that bio-machining was essentially possible, since the depth of the groove generated on the workpiece increased approximately proportionally to the machining time. Furthermore, electrolytic bio-machining proved to be even more effective, because the removal rate became much higher under an electric field.