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The Influence of Beam Shape on the Single-Track Formation of Pure Zn Towards the Additive Manufacturing of Battery Electrodes

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Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) can provide several benefits for battery manufacturing by combining geometrical flexibility and controlled porosity. Zinc is an appealing battery material because it is an abundant metal with relatively low cost, and potential recyclability. However, the processing of Zn and its alloys through melting based AM processes is cumbersome. The use of novel ring-shaped beams can widen the processing window in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), which is an appealing technology to produce electrodes. In this work, single-track formation during the LPBF of pure Zn with Gaussian and doughnut shaped beams was studied. In a wide range of experiments, geometrical attributes were observed through cross-sectional analyses and high-speed imaging. The conditions that range from surface heating to conduction melting and keyholing were determined. The feasibility of producing thin walls for anodes was also demonstrated.

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Data Availability

Data obtained in the present manuscript will be provided by the authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to nLight and Optoprim for providing the laser source used in the experimental activity. Raylase and Direct Machining Control are acknowledged for the technical support whilst BLM is thanked for providing the high speed imaging equipment. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Italian Ministry of Education, Research and Universities (MIUR) for the support via the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).

Funding

The project was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, Research and Universities (MIUR) via the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 1, Milan, 20156, Italy

    Chiara Baldi, Leonardo Caprio, Barbara Previtali & Ali Gökhan Demir

  2. McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX, USA

    Craig Milroy

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Contributions

Chiara Baldi - Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft Leonardo Caprio - Formal Analysis, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft Ali Gokhan Demir - Project Administration, Supervision, Writing – Original Draft Craig Milroy - Conceptualization, Writing – Review & Editing Barbara Previtali - Writing – Review & Editing, Funding Acquisition, Resources, Supervision

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Correspondence to Leonardo Caprio.

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Baldi, C., Caprio, L., Milroy, C. et al. The Influence of Beam Shape on the Single-Track Formation of Pure Zn Towards the Additive Manufacturing of Battery Electrodes. Lasers Manuf. Mater. Process. 11, 125–142 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40516-023-00237-2

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