The manufacturing process for electrodes for lithium-ion batteries can be roughly divided into three steps: coating, pressing, and slitting.

In the coating process, a coater is used to coat the metal foil with electrode material at a constant thickness.

After that, the pressed electrode material is made to a constant thickness and high density in the pressing process. A roll press device is used in this process.

Press rolls are manufactured with extremely strict control over roundness, cylindricity, runout accuracy, etc., and are manufactured with high precision. The electrode material passes between these two press rolls, and the press roll tube maintains an extremely constant clearance in units of a few microns.

Roll press devices are available in sizes from several tons, but in recent years, extremely high linear pressures of several hundred tons are required. The electrodes that pass through these rolls become extremely thin and uniform while maintaining a high electrode density, contributing to the miniaturization and high density of batteries.

The final slitting section is a facility that cuts the electrode material to a specified thickness and finishes it to the size of the battery or unit.

The problems here are contamination (cutting chips) and precision. If cutting chips remain or precision is poor, it can damage the separator when made into a battery, causing a short circuit, so the slitting process is also very important.
For this reason, there are many cutting methods, and you must carefully select the one that suits your electrode material.
Kanematsu KGK has a wealth of knowledge about these roll presses and slitting machines.
Please feel free to contact us.