Abstract
Parameter optimization is a long-standing challenge in various production processes. Particularly, powder film forming processes entail multiscale and multiphysical phenomena, each of which is usually controlled by a combination of several parameters. Therefore, it is difficult to optimize the parameters either by numerical-model-based analysis or by “brute force” experiment-based exploration. In this study, we focus on a Bayesian optimization method that has led to breakthroughs in materials informatics. Specifically, we apply this method to exploration of production-process-parameter for the powder film forming process. To this end, a slurry containing a powder, polymer, and solvent was dropped, the drying temperature and time were controlled as parameters to be explored, and the uniformity of the fabricated film was evaluated. Using this experiment-based Bayesian optimization system, we searched for the optimal parameters among 32,768 (85) parameter sets to minimize defects. This optimization converged at 40 experiments, which is a substantially smaller number than that observed in brute-force exploration and traditional design-of-experiments methods. Furthermore, we inferred the mechanism corresponding to the unknown drying conditions discovered in the parameter exploration that resulted in uniform film formation. This demonstrates that a data-driven approach leads to high-throughput exploration and the discovery of novel parameters, which inspire further research.
Highlights
The examination of production processes is necessary for attaining the inherent characteristics of any novel material and for realizing the desired performance of products
Similar to most production processes, the powder film forming process is controlled by a number of parameters, and the phenomena entailed in the process are complex
A lower defect ratio was observed as the exploration progressed. These results suggest that the application of Bayesian optimization (BO) makes parameter exploration more efficient than iterations of random experiments
Summary
The examination of production processes is necessary for attaining the inherent characteristics of any novel material and for realizing the desired performance of products. Among such processes, powder film forming is a fundamental process that must be used in either prototyping or mass production to fabricate functional devices such as rechargeable batteries[1], fuel cells[2,3,4], solar cells[5], and water electrolysis systems[6]. Similar to most production processes, the powder film forming process is controlled by a number of parameters, and the phenomena entailed in the process are complex. The large number of parameters hinder the evaluation of all combinations of parameters using a brute-force
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