{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,9]],"date-time":"2026-08-09T04:42:05Z","timestamp":1786250525781,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786060800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["52205472"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52205472"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["22327809"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22327809"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["52205472"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52205472"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["22327809"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22327809"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Micromachines"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The uniformity of microstructural formation remains a critical challenge in mask-assisted electrochemical micro-etching (M-ECME), primarily governed by electric field and flow field distribution. Implementation of a pulsating-cycle cathode in M-ECME enabled self-sustained pulsed machining. Multiphysics simulations verified control over current and flow fields, while theoretical analysis established 0.253 mm as the optimal activation gap. The cyclically moving cathode acts like a piston to refresh the electrolyte in the machining zone, and cathode velocity should be limited to below 0.16 m\/s to prevent cavitation in the flow field. Subsequent machining experiments strongly validated these theoretical findings. Optimized parameters (15 V, 0.14 m\/s) produce highly consistent microstructures (245.28 \u00b1 5.50 \u03bcm diameter, 50.34 \u00b1 5.49 \u03bcm depth) with significantly improved dimensional control.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mi17080942","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T10:12:01Z","timestamp":1786097521000},"page":"942","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mask-Assisted Electrochemical Micro-Etching with Self-Circulating Flushing Based on a Pulsating-Cycle Cathode"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Haifeng","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guoqian","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fengkai","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 211816, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8903","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmrt.2024.11.216","article-title":"An Investigation of Ultra-Precision Manufacturing Methods in Generating Functional Rectangular Microstructures on the Polymer Material of Polyimide","volume":"33","author":"Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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