PR: Environmentally friendly and inline-capable: Plasma pretreatment for efficient and long-lasting batteries
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The Battery Show Europe is just around the corner: This year, Plasmatreat GmbH will once again be presenting its wide-ranging portfolio for surface treatment with plasma in Stuttgart, Germany. From June 18 to 20, 2024, visitors can look forward to exciting live demonstrations of plasma equipment and systems from the leading international manufacturer and developer in Hall 8, booth C10. Together with the plasma experts on site, visitors and interested parties are invited to find out all about plasma surface pretreatment on various materials for e-mobility, module and cell production. Practical examples of the application of Plasmatreat's Openair-Plasma will be demonstrated by partnerships and projects with Krüss GmbH and Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG.
At a time when electromobility is becoming increasingly important, the demand for high-performance and long-lasting batteries for electric vehicles is also growing rapidly. As a result, the need for new solutions and ways to make battery production more efficient and cost-effective is also growing. This is where Plasmatreat comes in with its Openair-Plasma and PlasmaPlus technology. Using normal compressed air and electricity, Plasmatreat's plasma systems generate reactive plasma species “Openair” - under atmospheric pressure conditions - which are reliably suitable for pretreatment of surfaces, e.g. metal, plastic (films) or glass. This dry and inline-capable technology has proven itself with ultrafine cleaning, surface activation and nanocoating, e.g. for anti-corrosion protection, and is used in various established and newly developed process steps in battery production.
Continuous progress: Innovative coating technology revolutionizes the insulation process of battery cells
Together with the coating system manufacturer Venjakob, for example, Plasmatreat has developed a new process for battery production: instead of a complex film coating, battery cells are coated with a 100% UV protective lacquer, which is applied using a non-contact coating process. Before coating, the battery cells are ultrafine cleaned with Openair-Plasma in a Plasmatreat plasma system in order to achieve a clean surface with perfect adhesion properties for the coating process. A process that enables safe, fast and efficient electrical insulation of the battery cells and is therefore advantageous compared to the foiling process. The regional closeness of the two companies enables manufacturers to see and test this new process - ultrafine cleaning with plasma at Plasmatreat and subsequent protective coating at Venjakob - under near-series conditions.
Plasma treatment for batteries: A practical presentation of applications
Various systems and plasma applications, which can be seen at Plasmatreat’s booth C10 in hall 8 at The Battery Show Europe, illustrate the extensive product portfolio and the various possible applications of Openair-Plasma and PlasmaPlus. In a Plasma Treatment Unit (PTU) equipped with a robot, the surface experts will be demonstrating plasma treatment for various battery types and sizes: The contacts of cylindrical cells, for example, are ultrafine cleaned with Openair-Plasma before wire bonding. For prismatic cells, plasma treatment in the PTU enables reliable and efficient painting or foiling. The insulated cells are then activated by plasma before cell-to-cell bonding for thermally conductive adhesive bonds. PlasmaPlus AntiCorr technology is also used to apply active corrosion protection to the sealing surface of a battery housing. This reliable coating process not only provides long-term corrosion protection, but also achieves an increased barrier function against electrolytic solutions.
Plasmatreat's plasma systems and equipment are generally equipped with a PCU (Plasma Control Unit) for reproducibility as well as process and quality monitoring. Various quality assurance modules support the smooth production process, also with regard to digitalized manufacturing processes.
At the live table, visitors will gain insights into the activation of PET films or PET spray coatings as well as the advantages of cleaning battery cells before electrical insulation. Plasmatreat offers visitors the opportunity to test their own materials and check the plasma effect live by measuring the contact angle on their products.
Inline contact angle measurement in the Plasma Treatment Unit
A Plasma Treatment Unit will not only be on display at the Plasmatreat booth, but also at the booth of its partner Krüss in hall 9, booth B50. Both companies will present an innovation: the integrated and automated contact angle measurement of an Ayriis instrument from Krüss in a PTU from Plasmatreat. The automated and robot-controlled measurement of the contact angle before and after treatment eliminates time-consuming handling. The integration of the Ayriis into the PTU enables continuous quality control of wettability and provides accurate 3D contact angle measurements in seconds.
