Factors affecting graphite as a negative electrode for high quality lithium ion batteries

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US President recently decided to invoke a Cold War-era defense law to encourage domestic production of minerals needed to make batteries for electric cars.

This order, issued under the Defense Production Act (DPA), is expected to help miners secure government funding for feasibility studies for new projects to refine lithium, nickel, and other metals for electric vehicles, or to increase productivity at existing facilities.

The funds will not be used to dig new mines or buy minerals for government stocks, and the DPA does not allow the mining industry to evade regulatory or licensing standards. It is unclear how much money could be allocated.

Talon Metals Corp said this decision signaled the US would support responsible domestic mining, processing, and recycling of battery materials, and see it as a matter of national importance. The company has a supply agreement with Tesla to supply materials from a Minnesota nickel mine they are developing.

This move could cause volatility in the prices of metals and other commodities like the graphite anode .

Graphite anode material is the main raw material of lithium ion battery anode sheet. Due to its rough processing technology, late start and industry specificity, the product is prone to quality problems such as fiber foreign matter and fine powder. The influencing factors, failure modes and control methods of these two quality problems are explained one by one below.

Powder

The proportion of fine powder of graphite anode also seriously affects the processing technology of the battery factory. When the fine powder in the graphite negative electrode is higher than a certain ratio, the appearance of the produced negative electrode sheet may also have many small particles and scratches, resulting in the scrapping of the negative electrode sheet.

The fine powder level of the graphite negative electrode is closely related to the process before graphitization and graphitization, and the fine powder that has been produced can be screened by a jet pulverization grading system.

After the graphitization, the powder collides in the airflow device, and the collided powder becomes smaller. Under a certain airflow, the fine powder is blown out of the device and enters the fine powder collecting device, and the airflow through the adjusting device can be different. The graphite negative electrode of the particle size is sorted out, and the powder in the fine powder collecting device is removed, thereby obtaining a graphite negative electrode product whose fine powder level satisfies the customer's demand.

Fiber foreign matter

The metal foreign matter in the graphite anode powder and other visible foreign objects have been widely concerned. The anode manufacturing industry also controls the foreign matter in different stages of the manufacturing process according to the characteristics of foreign materials.

However, fiber foreign matter is a foreign object that is easily overlooked by everyone, and its influence on battery safety performance is increasing. When the amount of fibrous foreign matter reaches a certain level or accumulates in the powder, the appearance of the negative electrode sheet after coating is uneven, and electron beam and elemental analysis are performed on the uneven spots, and it is confirmed that the composition of the uneven spots is fiber.

The concave and convex points were observed under a microscope, and it was found that the fibrous foreign matter occupied the position of the negative electrode powder, and the amount of the negative electrode coating in this portion was reduced, thereby causing a lithium-inducing problem in the charging and discharging process of the battery, causing the explosion of the lithium ion battery.

Therefore, the quality control of fiber foreign matter is imperative. By testing the powders in each process, it was found that the negative electrode powder packaging bags used in each process were the main source of fibrous foreign materials.

Since the temperature of graphitization is high, the fiber can be carbonized, and the carbonized fiber can be turned into fine slag through the vibrating screen, and is present in the powder in the form of powder, which does not cause appearance quality problems on the pole piece, so The control of the fibrous material mainly manages the process after the graphitization.

After the graphitization process, a ton bag of fiber material is used in the turnover of the graphite negative electrode, which will rub with the equipment during transportation and feeding, thereby causing the fiber to fall off, and after the fiber is detached, it is easy to and the graphite negative electrode powder. The flow is transferred to the sieving process, and the fibers are sprinkled into the powder through the mesh of the screen after the powder is shaken for several hours on the screen of the vibrating screen.

To control the amount of fiber, firstly protect the foreign material of the ton bag of fiber material, add a layer of plastic bag protection in the ton bag, or replace the ton bag with a plastic bucket. At the feeding port, a large-diameter screen is added to intercept the large bundle of fiber ropes, and the inlet of the feeding equipment is cuffed to prevent the equipment from scratching the bag and causing fiber problems.

Prior to the impact of COVID-19 on the chemicals and materials industry and the price of the graphite anode , many industry observers expected low to flat growth in 2021 in all regions outside Asia, with many countries seeing slower growth compared to recent years. Operational excellence has long been a hallmark of the graphite anode chemical industry, and many companies are financially able to withstand short-term dips in end-market demand due to rapid leverage from reduced capex on hand.

The analysis shows that, whatever the final course of the pandemic, we can expect the inevitable long-term effects. Workplaces are expected to slowly return to pre-COVID-19 practices. Companies investing in enterprise-wide digital initiatives saw these "payoffs" in the early pandemic environment. For more information about graphite anode , please feel free to contact us.

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