Continuous Anode Slurry Production in Twin-Screw Extruders: Effects of the Process Setup on the Dispersion

Abstract

Screw design in the extrusion process has an important effect on the distribution of material through the extruder, resulting in partially filled sections in the processing zone. Accordingly, the local accumulation of material in the extruder leads to variations in material strain conditions and also influences the local residence time of the material in a given screw section. This work evaluates particle dispersion in anode slurry considering three different screw arrangements. The particle size distribution is considered as a quality parameter representing the microstructure of the battery slurry components and their distribution. Numerical simulation of the material flow behavior through a laboratory extruder was performed to investigate the filling ratios and resulting shear rates for different screw designs and process conditions. The importance of process parameters and a suitable screw configuration to achieve specific particle sizes in battery slurry is discussed.

Keywords

• Li-ion battery
• anode slurry
• continuous mixing
• twin-screw extruder
• process simulation
• smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH)