In the study, a self-developed electrolytic micro-machining tester is employed to investigate the effects of the supply voltage and the highest position of the workpiece relative to the tool on the geometry of the tungsten rod. The peripheral surface of the iron needle (tool) is insulated by an insulator and its tip with a diameter of 50£gm is exposed to the electrolyte as a cathode. The tungsten rod (workpiece) with 200£gm in diameter reciprocates as an anode. Both the cathode and the anode are dipped into an aqueous electrolyte of 2wt % sodium hydroxide to proceed electrochemical machining. Experimental results show that since the length and the diameter of the workpiece are varied during the machining process, it is necessary to manually adjust the highest position and the gap between the workpiece and the tool in each reciprocating motion to achieve a uniform tungsten rod. Moreover, because of the higher removal rate of the workpiece at the higher supply voltage, it is hard to control the geometry of the workpiece. On the contrary, the geometry of the workpiece can be controlled at the lower supply voltage. Finally, the workpiece is first machined at the higher supply voltage, and then the supply voltage is switched to the lower one to achieve a uniform tungsten rod with 2£gm in diameter and 200£gm in length, or 100 in aspect ratio.

In this study, an electrolytic micro-machining tester is employed to investigate the effects of supply voltage,electrode gap and initial machining position on the geometry of the tungsten needle. The tungsten needle to be electrolyzed is dipped in an aqueous electrolyte of 2wt % sodium hydroxide as the anode, and the stainless steel needle with a diameter of 50 £gm as the cathode(tool electrode), and the electrode gap is set to be 30 £gm.Morever,the tungsten needle can be allowed to be fixed or in the reciprocating motion. Experimental results show that when the tip diameter of stainless steel needle is less than 50 £gm, a great quantity of current density and power are generated to cause the temperature failure of the tool electrode. At a certain gap between the electrodes, the electric field is focused on the narrow range to improve its processing efficiency. Under the higher supply voltage condition, it is difficult to control the size because the diameter of tungsten rod is reduced very quickly. Under the lower supply voltage condition, the diameter of tungsten rod can be processed to smaller sizes, but it takes a long time. Therefore, in the beginning of the experiment, the tungsten rod is electrolyzed under a higher voltage to the small size, and then the supply vltage is switched to lower value to conduct the electrolysis process. Consequently, a finer and more even tungsten needle can be obtained. Experimental results show that a more even tungsten needle with the length of 600 £gm and the diameter of 4 £gm can be manufactured.