Disclosure of Invention
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide a manufacturing system for a composite aluminium foil film, which reduces or avoids the aforementioned problems.
In order to solve the technical problems, the invention provides a manufacturing system for a composite aluminum foil film, which is used for preparing the composite aluminum foil film formed by a substrate layer and metal aluminum foils adhered to two sides of the substrate layer, wherein a layer of rolling protection film is adhered to the outer side of the metal aluminum foil, and holes corresponding to the positions are uniformly distributed on the metal aluminum foil and the rolling protection film; the manufacturing system at least comprises a substrate feeding roller for conveying the substrate layer, a pair of aluminum foil feeding rollers for conveying metal aluminum foils to two sides of the substrate layer and a pair of protection film feeding rollers for conveying rolling protection films to the outer sides of the metal aluminum foils, wherein at least one pair of rolling rollers are arranged on two sides of a film layer formed by compounding the substrate layer, the metal aluminum foils and the rolling protection films along the advancing direction of the film layer, a pair of die rollers for forming holes on two sides of the film layer are arranged on the downstream of the rolling rollers, and a material collecting roller for compounding the aluminum foil films is arranged on the downstream of the die rollers.
Preferably, a corrosive liquid spraying mechanism for spraying the metal aluminum foil in the holes to the two sides of the film layer, a cleaning mechanism for the sprayed film layer, a drying mechanism for the cleaned film layer and a trimming mechanism before winding are further arranged between the die roller and the material collecting roller.
Preferably, a pair of glue spreading rollers for coating adhesives on two sides of the substrate layer are arranged between the substrate feeding roller and the aluminum foil feeding roller; the metal aluminum foil is extruded and attached to two sides of the glued substrate layer through a pair of bonding rollers; the rolling protective film is attached to the outer side of the metal aluminum foil through a pair of attaching rollers.
Preferably, a pair of oiling rollers for coating lubricating oil on the outer side of the metal aluminum foil is arranged between the bonding roller and the attaching roller.
Preferably, a first heating device for heating the film layer is arranged between the attaching roller and the rolling roller.
Preferably, a second heating device for heating and annealing the film layer is arranged between the grinding roller and the die roller.
Preferably, a plurality of pairs of rolling rollers with sequentially increased lengths are arranged along the advancing direction of the film layer, a set of clamping and stretching mechanisms are respectively arranged along two sides of the film layer, each clamping and stretching mechanism comprises an annular track and a plurality of clamping pincers which circularly move along the annular track, and each clamping pincers clamps the side edge of the film layer and axially clamps and stretches the film layer transversely.
Preferably, a plurality of burs for puncturing the metal aluminum foil and rolling the protective film to form the holes are uniformly arranged on the outer surface of the die roller.
The manufacturing system can be used for continuously processing the composite aluminum foil film, can be used for preparing a composite aluminum foil film with low thickness which is rolled and stretched after being compounded, avoids the defect that the metal aluminum foil with low thickness is difficult to compound, can obtain thinner metal aluminum foil, and can ensure conductivity and strength.
Detailed Description
For a clearer understanding of technical features, objects, and effects of the present application, a specific embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherein like parts are designated by like reference numerals.
The existing lithium battery generally adopts a metal aluminum foil obtained by rolling metal aluminum as a positive current collector, and the thickness of the adopted metal aluminum foil is difficult to reduce due to the strength limitation of the material, otherwise, the metal aluminum foil is easy to tear in the operation process. Even if the metal aluminum foil and the plastic film are compounded together, the compounding operation cannot be performed by using the metal aluminum foil which is too thin.
In view of this, the present invention proposes a composite aluminum foil film composed of a base material layer 1 and metal aluminum foils 2 adhered to both sides of the base material layer 1, as shown in fig. 1. The substrate layer 1 can be made of plastic films made of polyolefin, polyester and other materials. In a preferred embodiment, the substrate layer 1 is preferably made of a polyester film. The metal aluminum foil 2 can be adhered to two sides of the substrate layer 1 through an adhesive (not shown in the figure), and polyurethane adhesives with good high temperature resistance in the prior art can be selected.
Further, the metal aluminum foil 2 in the composite aluminum foil film of the application is composed of metal aluminum foil of a first thickness of 5-15 μm and metal aluminum foil of a second thickness of 3-8 μm laminated and stretched on both sides of the base material layer 1. That is, the metal aluminum foil 2 of the present application initially has a first thickness, and becomes a final second thickness after being roll-stretched by being attached to both sides of the base material layer 1. Because the material strength of the metal aluminum is not good, the metal aluminum foil with the second thickness of 3-8 mu m is directly adopted, the price is high, the bonding and other composite operations are difficult to carry out, therefore, the application adopts the metal aluminum foil with the first thickness of 5-15 mu m as the initial raw material, the metal aluminum foil is bonded and compounded with the base material layer 1, then the rolling and stretching operation is carried out to change the metal aluminum foil into the second thickness, and then the composite operation is not needed, so that the thinner metal aluminum foil can be obtained, and the conductivity and the strength can be ensured.
For example, the metallic aluminum foil 2 used is rolled from metallic aluminum having an aluminum content exceeding 98%, and a commercially available finished metallic aluminum foil product having a thickness of 5 to 15 μm can be selected as the initial raw material of the first thickness.
Further, as shown in the figure, a layer of rolling protection film 3 is further attached to the outer side of the metal aluminum foil 2, so as to protect the surface of the metal aluminum foil 2 from being scratched and broken in the rolling and stretching process. The rolling protective film 3 can be made of plastic films made of polyolefin, polyester, nylon and other materials. In a preferred embodiment, the laminate protective film 3 is preferably made of a nylon film excellent in strength and self-lubricating properties, preferably a nylon film having a thickness of 8 to 10 μm.
Still further, holes 4 corresponding to the positions are uniformly distributed on the metal aluminum foil 2 and the rolling protective film 3. The holes 4 are uniformly distributed on two sides of the composite aluminum foil film and are conical holes with large openings and small tail ends as shown in the figure. In a preferred embodiment, the end of the hole 4 protrudes into about half the thickness of the substrate layer 1, and it is difficult to precisely protrude into half the thickness of the substrate layer 1, however, it is preferable that 1/3 to 1/2 of the thickness of the hole 4 protrudes into the substrate layer 1 is sufficient from the viewpoint of cost.
The holes 4 formed on the metal aluminum foil 2 can be used for increasing the contact area between the metal aluminum foil 2 and the positive electrode material, improving the adhesive force between the positive electrode material and the metal aluminum foil 2, avoiding the separation of the positive electrode material and the metal aluminum foil 2 and increasing the internal resistance. The holes 4 on both sides of the composite aluminum foil film are not in the state of through holes in order to avoid slurry leakage during the subsequent application of the positive electrode material. These holes 4 can then be enlarged by the positive electrode material when the cells are compacted, thereby facilitating an enlarged contact area with the positive electrode material. Under the condition of short circuit and overheat of the battery core, the holes 4 can be blocked by the heated and melted substrate layer 1, so that the current is prevented from becoming larger continuously, and the risk of combustion explosion of the battery is reduced.
After rolling and stretching the metal aluminum foil 2, the rolling protective film 3 still needs to be remained on the surface of the metal aluminum foil 2 for protecting the metal aluminum foil 2 when the holes 4 are formed later, so as to avoid the holes of the metal aluminum foil 2 from forming larger tearing edges, and improve the consistency of the holes 4. After that, the rolling protection film 3 can be kept to protect the metal surface, and the rolling protection film 3 can be removed until needed.
In order to further improve the consistency of the current collector, after the holes 4 are formed, a corrosive liquid may be sprayed or coated on the surface of the rolling protection film 3 to corrode the edges of the metal aluminum foil 2 extruded into the holes 4, so as to remove edge burrs when the holes 4 are formed. And meanwhile, a part of metal aluminum foil is corroded, so that the weight of the composite aluminum foil film can be further reduced, and the energy density of the lithium battery can be improved.
In a preferred embodiment, the holes 4 have a maximum opening diameter of 20-30 μm in the metal foil 2, and the centers of adjacent holes 4 are spaced apart by 50-100 μm.
The system and method for manufacturing the composite aluminum foil film of the present application are described in further detail below with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a manufacturing system of a composite aluminum foil film according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in the figure, the manufacturing system of the present application is dedicated to manufacturing the composite aluminum foil film shown in fig. 1, that is, the manufacturing system is used for preparing the composite aluminum foil film composed of the base material layer 1 and the metal aluminum foils 2 adhered to both sides of the base material layer 1, a layer of rolling protection film 3 is adhered to the outer side of the metal aluminum foils 2, and holes 4 corresponding to the positions are uniformly distributed on the metal aluminum foils 2 and the rolling protection film 3.
In a specific embodiment, the manufacturing system at least comprises a substrate feeding roller 10 for conveying the substrate layer 1, a pair of aluminum foil feeding rollers 20 for conveying the metal aluminum foil 2 to two sides of the substrate layer 1, and a pair of protection film feeding rollers 30 for conveying the rolled protection film 3 to the outer side of the metal aluminum foil 2, wherein at least one pair of rolling rollers 40 are arranged on two sides of a film layer formed by compounding the substrate layer 1, the metal aluminum foil 2 and the rolled protection film 3 along the advancing direction, a pair of die rollers 50 for forming holes 4 on two sides of the film layer are arranged on the downstream of the rolling rollers 40, and a receiving roller 80 for compounding the aluminum foil film is arranged on the downstream of the die rollers 50.
In operation of the manufacturing system of the present application, a substrate layer 1, for example, a substrate layer 1 made of PET, may be first fed by a substrate feed roll 10, the initial thickness of the substrate layer 1 being 10-20 μm. Then, a layer of metal aluminum foil 2 having a first thickness of 5-15 μm is respectively fed to both sides of the base material layer 1 by aluminum foil feed rolls 20.
In a specific embodiment, a pair of glue rollers 11 for coating the adhesive on both sides of the substrate layer 1 may be further disposed between the substrate feed roller 10 and the aluminum foil feed roller 20; the metal aluminum foil 2 is pressed and attached to both sides of the glued substrate layer 1 by a pair of adhesive rolls 21, so that the metal aluminum foil 2 is adhered to the substrate layer 1.
Thereafter, a laminate protective film 3, for example, a film made of nylon having a thickness of 8-10 μm is fed to the outside of the metal aluminum foil 2 by a protective film feeding roller 30. In the illustrated embodiment, the laminate protective film 3 may be attached to the outside of the metal aluminum foil 2 by a pair of attaching rollers 31.
The plastic film generally has a certain self-adhesive property, so that the rolling protective film 3 can be directly adhered to the surface of the metal aluminum foil 2 without gluing. Of course, in order to avoid slipping, a low-viscosity material may be coated on the surface of the metal aluminum foil 2 to facilitate subsequent removal of the rolling protective film 3. In the illustrated embodiment, the present application provides a pair of oiling rollers 22 for coating the outside of the metal aluminum foil 2 with lubricating oil between the bonding roller 21 and the attaching roller 31, and by coating the lubricating oil such as engine oil or silicone grease, the adhesion force of the rolling protective film 3 to the metal aluminum foil 2 can be increased, and at the same time, the friction force can be reduced during the subsequent rolling extension process, thereby avoiding the film layer from being broken.
Then, the film layer to which the laminate protective film 3 is attached is placed between at least a pair of laminating rollers 40, and the metal aluminum foil 2 is laminated from the first thickness to a second thickness of 3-8 μm by the pressure of the laminating rollers 40. The rolling of the metal aluminum foil 2 from the first thickness to the second thickness is only required to control the gap between the rolling rollers 40, and of course, the gap set between the rolling rollers 40 is slightly smaller than the thickness of the film after the reduction in view of the problem of large elastic deformability of the plastic in the film. In addition, the film layer structure is easily damaged by thinning the film layer in a pure hard extrusion mode, so that the rolling protection film 3 contacted with the rolling roller 40 is made of nylon, the slidability can be improved, the extrusion is avoided, and meanwhile, the friction force between the film layer and the rolling roller 40 during rolling can be further reduced by auxiliary coating of lubricating oil. After the rolling and stretching, the thickness of the base material layer 1 is changed from 10 to 20 μm to about 6 to 12 μm.
Further, it is preferable that the film layer is heated before being rolled by the rolling roller 40 to increase the ductility of the plastic film, improve the rolling thinning efficiency, and reduce the rebound amount of the heated plastic film to be beneficial to maintaining the thickness of the stretched film layer. In the illustrated embodiment, a first heating device 32 for heating the film layer is disposed between the attaching roller 31 and the laminating roller 40. In a preferred embodiment, the first heating means 32 may heat the film layer by infrared heating, preferably at a temperature of 150-170 ℃.
In addition, the two sides of the film layer may be clamped and stretched transversely along the axial direction of the laminating roller 40 while the film layer is laminated by the laminating roller 40. That is, the film layer is longitudinally stretched by the calender roll 40 while being transversely stretched by sandwiching both sides in the width direction with sandwiching means to accelerate the thinning speed of the material. Because the stretching problem of the metal aluminum foil is involved, the whole film layer is required to be clamped during clamping and stretching, the transverse stretching speed is controlled, and the problem of inconsistent stretching proportion between the film layers is avoided.
Fig. 3 shows a schematic structural view of a rolling and stretching mechanism of a manufacturing system of a composite aluminum foil film according to another embodiment of the present application, in the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of pairs of rolling rollers 40 with sequentially increased lengths may be disposed along the advancing direction of the film layer, a set of clamping and stretching mechanisms 42 are disposed along both sides of the film layer, respectively, the clamping and stretching mechanisms 42 include an annular rail 421 and a plurality of clamping jaws 422 that circularly move along the annular rail 421, and the clamping jaws 422 clamp the side of the film layer to transversely clamp and stretch the film layer along the axial direction of the rolling rollers 40. The clamping and stretching mechanism 42 is obliquely arranged along the advancing direction of the film layer, and the film layer is gradually stretched through the clamping and stretching mechanism 42 to two sides while being rolled and stretched step by a plurality of rolling rollers 40 in the advancing process. The clamp 422 may be configured to automatically close to clamp the sides when moved along the circular track 421 to a position where it meets the sides of the film, and automatically open to release the sides when moved along the circular track 421 to a position where it separates from the sides of the film.
Then, the laminated film layer is placed between a pair of mold rolls 50 having the spurs 51, and the corresponding holes 4 are uniformly formed on the metal aluminum foil 2 and the laminated protective film 3 by the spurs 51 on the mold rolls 50, as shown in fig. 4. In the illustrated embodiment, the outer surface of the mold roll 50 is uniformly provided with a plurality of spikes 51 for piercing the metal foil 2 and rolling the protective film 3 to form the holes 4. In another embodiment, the spines 51 are cones, the bottom diameter D of which is 20-30 μm, and the center-to-center distance between adjacent cones is 50-100 μm, as shown in fig. 5. By uniformly providing the spurs 51 on the mold roll 50, the holes 4 having a desired size and position precisely distributed on the film layer can be formed, and uniformity of the film layer structure can be ensured.
In the process of manufacturing the hole 4, if stress exists when the film layer is rolled, the film layer with excessive stress after perforation can generate displacement shrinkage, so that the hole can be closed when the spurs are removed. To avoid this problem, it is preferable to heat anneal the membrane layer before forming the holes 4 to eliminate stresses in the membrane layer as much as possible. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, a second heating device 41 for thermally annealing the film layer may be further provided between the laminating roller 40 and the mold roller 50. The annealing temperature is preferably 130-150 ℃ and the annealing time is 5-15 minutes.
After annealing to release stress, if there is a small amount of stress concentration, the stress can be released by puncturing the hole 4 to avoid the distortion of the composite aluminum foil film. Although the small amount of stress will deform the holes 4, by setting the appropriate hole size and center-to-center spacing as described above, the holes are prevented from closing completely.
Further, after forming the holes 4, a corrosive liquid may be sprayed or coated on the surface of the rolling protective film 3 to corrode the edges of the metal aluminum foil 2 extruded into the holes 4, so as to remove edge burrs when the holes 4 are formed. Finally, washing with water to remove corrosive liquid, and then drying, trimming and rolling. In the illustrated embodiment, a corrosive liquid spraying mechanism 60 for spraying the metal aluminum foil in the holes 4 to both sides of the film layer, a cleaning mechanism 61 for the sprayed film layer, a drying mechanism 70 for the cleaned film layer, and a trimming mechanism 71 before winding may be further disposed between the mold roll 50 and the collecting roll 80.
Further, in the case where the manufacturing system of the present application is provided with the oiling roller 22, a protective film take-up roller (not shown in the figure) for removing the rolled protective film 3 may be further provided between the corrosive liquid spraying mechanism 60 and the cleaning mechanism 61. That is, after spraying and corrosion, the rolling protective film 3 can be removed, and most of corrosive liquid is taken away at the same time, and lubricating oil coated on the metal aluminum foil 2 is also exposed, and the lubricating oil can be removed at the same time when cleaning. At this time, the cleaning mechanism 61 may have a plurality of groups of cleaning heads, which may be firstly deoiled, then deacidified, and finally rinsed with clean water.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that while the present application has been described in terms of several embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. The description is given for clearness of understanding only, and those skilled in the art will understand the description as a whole and will recognize that the technical solutions described in the various embodiments may be combined with one another to understand the scope of the present application.
The foregoing is illustrative of the present application and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the application. Any equivalent alterations, modifications and combinations thereof will be effected by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and principles of this application, and it is intended to be within the scope of the application.