TECH FRONT
reactions which can cause cells to die, making it far more stable after multiple charge and discharge cycles. By precisely engineering the structure of the electrode, changing it to a highly porous form of graphene, adding lithium
iodide, and changing the chemical makeup of the electrolyte, the researchers were able to reduce the ‘voltage gap’ between charge and discharge to 0.2 volts. A small voltage gap equals a more efficient battery—previous versions of a lithium-air bat- tery have only managed to get the gap down to 0.5–1.0 volts, whereas 0.2 volts is closer to that of a Li-ion battery, and equates to an energy efficiency of 93%. The highly porous graphene
Fully integrated precision
electrode also greatly increases the capacity of the demonstrator, although only at certain rates of charge and discharge. Other issues that still have to be addressed include finding a way to protect the metal electrode so that it doesn’t form spindly lithium metal fibers known as dendrites, which can cause batteries to explode if they grow too much and short-circuit the battery. Additionally, the demonstrator can only be cycled in pure oxygen, while the air around us also contains carbon dioxide, nitrogen and moisture, all of which are generally harmful to the metal electrode. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” said Liu. “But what we’ve seen here suggests that there are ways to solve these problems—maybe we’ve just got to look at things a little differently.”
Higher volumes, shorter production periods and an ever-growing pressure to keep costs low. In today’s aerospace industry, suppliers are encountering ever-increasing demands. Fortunately, with Walter Valenite, Walter Titex and Walter Prototyp, a solution’s at hand. As professional high-tech tools and operating solutions developed by competence leaders, they yield valuable results throughout the complete machining process. From an increase in productivity of up to 100%, highest machining reliability and extremely long service lives to an innovative chipping process, minimal component costs and a broad range of applications – tailored to the specific needs of your business, of course. This is how we define efficiency – fully integrated into our client’s processes.
Laser Micromachining Grows Up
L
www.walter-tools.com/us
aser micro-machining (LMM) is an attractive manufacturing process due to its intrinsic machining char- acteristics such as such as non- contact processing and capabilities to machine complex free-form surfaces in a wide range of materials. That’s the good news.
Nevertheless, state-of-the-art LMM platforms still don’t offer the repeat- ability, reproducibility and operability of conventional machining centers. That
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