Preparation of ultrafine tungsten wire via electrochemical method in an ionic liquid

Ultrafine tungsten wire less than 10 μm in diameter is often used as wire array load applied in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) physical experiments. In order to obtain a higher yield of X-ray, both initial radius and line quality of metal wire were required to be of high quality simultaneously. This paper has studied the electrochemical method to corrode tungsten wires uniformly in an ionic liquid electrolyte containing 1 wt% sodium hydroxide. A three electrode system composed of a tungsten anode electrode, a stainless steel cathode and a saturated calomel electrode as a reference electrode, was used in the electrochemical experiments. Liner sweep voltammetry (LSV) and Tafel experiments were used to investigate the electrochemical behaviors of tungsten wires in ionic liquid and aqueous solution. Based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation, the morphologies of tungsten wire surface with uniform corrosion under different applied voltages have been demonstrated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods were employed to track the evolution of the crystal structure before and after corrosions, and there is an obvious difference in peak intensities. The ultrafine tungsten wire with a uniform diameter of 8.5 μm was obtained under the optimized electric potential (2.5 V) applied for decreasing diameter at 30 °C.

► The method of electrochemical corrosion is used to prepare ultra-fine tungsten wire less than 10 μm in diameter.
► Ionic liquid as a non-aqueous electrolyte was used in electrochemical corrosion experiments.
► The situation of anode polarization was different from the usual situation.
► Diameter of tungsten wire has been cut down to 8.5 μm uniformly under the optimized electric potential.