Research on Temperature Field Change Trend of the Sintering Process for Lithium-ion Battery Cathode Materials

Abstract

The sintering process of roller kiln is a critical step in the high-temperature solid-state manufacture process for lithium-ion battery cathode materials, and the temperature distribution in roller kiln has great influence on the performance and consistency of cathode materials. The heat transfer mechanism in actual roller kiln is complex, and it is difficult to obtain the relationship between the temperature distribution and parameters such as the heating power. In this paper, the temperature field model of the process is first established and the finite volume method is used to simulate the temperature field of the roller kiln in the ANSYS software, thereby the change law of saggar temperature difference when heating power of upper and lower silicon carbon rods are different is studied, as well as the change trend of temperature from temperature measurement point varies with saggar temperature difference. The results show that the temperature difference between the upper and lower saggar layers can be controlled within 5°C, and the increase in the heating power of the upper silicon carbon rod can more easily increase the uniformity of the temperature distribution, while the increase in the temperature difference between the upper and lower layers of saggars will decrease the temperature at the temperature measurement points. Finally, the polynomial function is used to fit the relationship between the heating power and the temperature of temperature measurement point in the kiln. The research of this paper provides a useful reference for improving the process parameters in sintering process of roller kiln.