Furukawa Electric has developed the FEC1000S-7-SP, an ultrafast frequency modulation compatible fiber laser capable of pulse waveform control up to 250 kHz. This has made it possible to perform high-speed, low thermal effect cutting of the metal foil used in lithium-ion battery (LiB) electrodes, and is capable of improving productivity and saving labor in the LiB manufacturing process.
Features
- The pulse rise time is only several µs, enabling modulation with repetition frequency of up to 250 kHz.
- The pulse width is wide at approximately 10 µs compared with pulse lasers, allowing heat input to be controlled even for highly reflective materials.
- Realizes processing which achieves both high speed and low thermal effect for metal foil cutting.
Issues with cutting the metal foil used in LiB electrodes
- The high reflectance of metal foil necessitates lasers with high power density.
- With continuous wave lasers, on the other hand, molten material is deposited on the cutting surface, and heat-affected zones occur on the surface due to the excessive heat input.
- With conventional laser pulse waveform control, repetition frequency is limited to 50 kHz or lower, and pulses do not overlap when performing high-speed processing.
| Conventional continuous wave fiber laser | Conventional continuous wave fiber laser (pulse waveform control) |
Ultrafast frequency modulation compatible fiber laser (FEC1000S-7-SP) This product |
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| High-speed processing of metal foil | 
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| Issues with high-speed cutting of metal foil |
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Anode current collector (copper foil t = 8 µm) and cathode (aluminum foil t = 100 µm) cutting results
Laser processing was performed on cathode and anode foil for lithium ions manufactured by The Furukawa Battery Co., Ltd. The heat-affected zone was found to have decreased when compared with the results obtained with conventional fiber laser processing.
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