Lithium Battery Slurry | Key Slurry Preparation Equipment for Lithium Batteries – Double Planetary Mixer

Slurry preparation involves adding components such as active materials, conductive agents, dispersants, binders, and additives into the mixer in a specific ratio and sequence. Through the mechanical actions of stirring blades and the dispersion plate, including turning, kneading, and shearing, these components are mixed together to form a uniform and stable solid-liquid suspension system.

Importance of the slurry preparation process

The performance limit of lithium-ion batteries is determined by the chemical system used (positive electrode active material, negative electrode active material, and electrolyte). However, the actual performance largely depends on the microscopic structure of the electrode sheet. This microscopic structure is primarily influenced by the microscopic structure of the slurry and the coating process. A widely recognized view is that in the manufacturing process of lithium-ion batteries, the impact of the early stages accounts for at least 70% of the overall performance, and the slurry preparation process in the early stages accounts for at least 70% of that. This means that the slurry preparation process has an influence of about 50% on the battery's final performance.

The ideal distribution state of materials in the electrode, as shown in Figure 1, is as follows:

The active materials are fully dispersed.

The conductive agents are adequately dispersed and fully interact with the active materials, forming a robust electronic conductivity network.

The binders are evenly distributed throughout the electrode, ensuring that the active materials and conductive agents are bonded together, resulting in a cohesive electrode structure.

This ideal distribution is crucial to achieving the desired battery performance such as capacity, cycle life, and charge-discharge efficiency.

Therefore, to prevent the particles in the slurry from aggregating, it is essential to ensure that the polymer chains of the binder adsorb onto the surface of the particles, forming a certain degree of steric hindrance. This creates a stable dispersion, allowing the slurry to maintain a consistent, uniform state for an extended period of time. The steric hindrance helps to prevent particle clumping, ensuring that the active materials, conductive agents, and binders remain evenly distributed within the slurry, which is crucial for the overall performance of the electrode and the battery. 

Currently, both domestic and international industries commonly use Double Planetary Mixers for the slurry preparation of lithium-ion batteries.

The working principle of the Double Planetary Mixer involves using 2 to 3 slow-speed mixing blades that combine both orbital and rotational movements. This allows the blade motion to cover the entire space inside the mixing chamber, ensuring uniform and thorough mixing.

With technological advancements, the mixer has evolved by adding high-speed dispersion blades on top of the original slow-speed blades. These high-speed dispersion blades rotate rapidly, creating strong shearing forces through the use of gear discs. This process further disperses and refines the slurry that has already been roughly mixed, improving the uniformity of the slurry and ensuring better performance in subsequent battery manufacturing processes.

The standout advantage of the Double Planetary Mixer is its ability to easily adjust process parameters such as the feeding sequence, rotation speed, and mixing time to accommodate different material properties. Additionally, if the slurry properties do not meet the required standards, reworking can be done easily. This makes the mixer highly adaptable and flexible. Furthermore, during product switching, the Double Planetary Mixer is relatively easy to clean.

Core Advantages of Yushun Intelligent Double Planetary Mixer

User-friendly and Safe Operation: The equipment is designed with ease of use and safety in mind, making it simple for operators to control.

Automated Control: The entire system can be automated, making operation simple and efficient.

Clean Discharge and Easy Cleaning: The finished product is discharged cleanly, and the mixing tank is easy to clean, reducing downtime.

No Dead Zones or Climbing: The mixing process is free from dead zones or any "climbing" issues, ensuring better sealing and more efficient mixing.

High Speed, Low Noise, and High Stability: The mixer operates with high rotational speed, low noise levels, and stable performance, ensuring consistency in the final product.

360-Degree No-Dead-Angle Design: The 360-degree design ensures that the material is mixed uniformly, with no dead angles in the process.

High Linear Speed and Consistent Slurry: The mixer achieves a high linear speed, ensuring high slurry consistency and improved performance in mixing.

Yushun Intelligent's planetary mixers can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of materials with different viscosities and densities, as well as the varying production processes of customers. The mixer offers several types of mixing blades, including propeller-style blades, twisted blades, claw-style blades, and frame-style blades, allowing for flexible and efficient processing.

Our equipment is widely used in various fields, including aerospace polymer materials, battery slurries, food production, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and more. This versatility makes our mixers ideal for a wide range of applications across different industries.