Fabrication of various shaped tungsten micro pin arrays using micro carving technology

Abstract

This paper describes a state of the art in micro-structuring high strength metallic materials. Tungsten micro pin arrays in a variety of shapes are fabricated using a micro carving technology, which combines laser beam machining and electrochemical etching processes. First, micro pin arrays were rough-shaped by laser beam machining along a pre-defined scanning path to control their structural shape. The micro pin array in this stage had near-conical shape of structures due to a recast layer. Next, the genuine shape of micro pin arrays came to the surface via electrochemical etching process to elute the recast layer into electrolyte. Quantitative elemental analysis with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was implemented to characterize the formation of recast layer on a micro pin structure after the laser beam machining process. The atomic percentage EDS maps indicated that higher percentage of tungsten was detected on the core micro pin structure, whereas relatively large percentage of oxygen was found on the recast layer (O 9%, W 91% in the center area, and O 53%, W 47% in the outer area).