Measuring the coating adhesion strength of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries

The coating adhesion strength of lithium-ion battery electrodes is a very important mechanical property, affecting the electrochemical life time of battery cells and the electrochemical handling during cell manufacturing. Hence the establishment of a standardized pull-off test with high reproducibility was long time overdue. The measurement setup is realized in a material testing machine. Machine and process parameters have been investigated to propose a reliable measurement procedure with a clearly specified parameter setup. Data acquisition rate (f), contact stress (σc), dwell time (td) and pull-off velocity (vpo) were identified to affect the adhesion strength measurement significantly. Finally electrodes with material and process parameter variations were manufactured to assess the applicability of the presented method. The impact of the amount of binder and its molecular weight as well as the influence of the dry mixing and the dispersing process on adhesion strength was verified and the differences can be clearly distinguished by the developed test method.