The Effect of Compactness on Laser Cutting of Cathode for Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Continuous Fiber Laser

Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIB) are growing in popularity for many applications. Much research has been focusing on battery performance improvement. However, few studies have overcome the disadvantages of the conventional LIB manufacturing processes. Laser cutting of electrodes has been applied. However, the effect of electrodes’ chemical, physical, and geometrical characteristics on the laser cutting has not been considered. This study proposes the effect of compression of cathode on laser cutting for lithium-ion batteries. The kerf width and top width of the specimens with laser irradiation are measured and the material removal energy is obtained. Observations of SEM photographs and absorptivity measurements are conducted. Increasing volume energies causes logarithmic increases in the kerf and top width. It is observed that the compressed cathode forms a wider kerf width than the uncompressed cathode under the same laser parameters. The top width of the uncompressed cathode is wider than the uncompressed cathode. The compression has a favorable effect on uniform cutting and selective removal of an active electrode.