Mass-Manufacturing of Sub-Micron Coated Metal Coils for Scaling-up the Production of Electrochemical Devices

Abstract

Sandvik Surface Technology is a production unit within AB Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT). The business area SMT belongs to the Sandvik group and is a world-leading manufacturer of advanced stainless steels and special alloys for the most demanding industries. Sandvik Surface Technology offers a portfolio of cost-effective coated metal strip for applications such as batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzers.Metal coils are coated with sub-micron metal coatings according to customer specifications regarding composition and thickness of both the substrate and the coating in a Physical Vapour Deposition process through the roll-to-roll coating lines developed by Sandvik (Figure 1). This pre-coated solution reduces some of the handling that comes with batch coating of individual components and provides an outstanding opportunity for the cost-effective industrial mass production of electrochemical devices.Figure 1. Image of one of the coating lines developed by Sandvik in Sandviken (Sweden). The final coated metal coils are also shown.The Surface Research group at SMT Strategic Research provides vital knowledge and understanding of such a complex coating process which facilitates the development of the above-mentioned products. Scientific questions such as the development of the adequate coating and substrate composition for every electrochemical device, the influence of nanometric defects on the performance of the electrochemical device or the formation of stable and protective layers against corrosion after more than 20,000 h of operation are addressed and will be shown in this work. Figure 1