Sodium Battery Materials and Prototype Manufacturing

Topic

© Fraunhofer IKTS
Extrusion of solid-state electrolytes made of Na-ß‘‘ aluminate for stationary batteries.

One focus of battery research at Fraunhofer IKTS is on sodium-based batteries for stationary energy storage. Core element is the ceramic solid-state electrolyte made of Na-ß‘‘ aluminate. For this purpose, the group is able to cover all necessary manufacturing processes of the value chain up to pilot plant scale: starting with material synthesis and preparation, various shaping processes, thermal treatment and final processing of the ceramic electrolytes. Particular emphasis is placed on extrusion. As part of a project of the Fraunhofer-Zukunftsstiftung, IKTS has developed an extrusion process that can be used to produce solid-state electrolytes made of  Na-ß‘‘ aluminate sealed on one side for battery cells with a capacity of 100 Ah. Work is currently underway to further develop this extrusion process. One focus is the instrumentation of the extruder for realizing inline process monitoring in real time within the framework of Industry 4.0 .

Based on these competences the group is also able to offer component development and sample production of components made of conventional ceramic materials.

 

Services offered

 

Material, component and technology development for ceramic solid-state electrolytes for sodium-based batteries and components made of conventional ceramic materials.

  • Technology and product-specific studies and research
  • Consulting on ceramic-compatible construction and design of components
  • Ceramic prototype manufacturing
    • Raw material preparation (mixing, milling, spray-drying, kneading, granulating)
    • Forming (uniaxial or isostatic pressing, extrusion, green processing)
    • Thermal processing (calcination, debinding, sintering up to 1750 °C)
    • Finishing (white processing)
  • Laser welding of metallic components (e.g. for the integration of electrolytes in cell housings)
  • Single part and prototype production (up to small series)
  • Pilot production on an industrial scale
  • Upscaling of technologies
  • Technology transfer to industry