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Analtical techonology
At our company, we use analytical technology to confirm the effectiveness of our in-house developed technology and evaluate it for benchmark surveys. We perform reaction/deterioration analysis in conjunction with battery characteristic evaluation, support problem solving, and utilize it in design development.
Nondestructive test (X-ray CT)
By irradiating the battery with X-rays and collecting the difference in the amount of X-rays that pass through as data and processing it on a computer, it is possible to compose an image of the inside of the battery. As an example, the same AA batteries mass-produced by our company are observed from three directions with a CT device.
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X-ray CT equipment
CT images of Ni-MH battery
It can be seen that Ni-MH battery has a structure in which a thick gray positive electrode and a white negative electrode are wound in a spiral. The parts that look white are metal hydrogen-absorbing alloys, and the gray parts are oxides, mainly nickel hydroxide. The separator that separates the positive and negative electrodes is a PP/PE non-woven fabric, and unfortunately cannot be observed in CT images.
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CT images of Ni-MH battery
CT image of Alkaline battery
While Ni-MH battery has a spiral structure, alkaline battery has an inside-out structure in which the zinc electrode is located in the center (IN) and the manganese electrode is located in the outer periphery (OUT). The manganese electrode is a pellet that is a mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon, a conductive material. can be observed.
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CT image of Alkaline battery
CT image of Lithium battery
Lithium battery has a spiral structure similar to Ni-MH battery, but you can see that the electrodes are thinner and have more turns than nickel-metal hydride batteries. Since the positive electrode uses expanded metal, it looks like a dashed line in the CT image, and you can see that it is surrounded by a layer mainly composed of manganese dioxide.
![](/research-and-development-e/original-technology/analytic/img/analytic_img04.jpg)
CT image of Lithium battery
Destructive test (Battery disassembled and investigated)
Disassemble the battery you want to investigate, and use SEM (EDS), XRD, etc. to investigate the difference as a product, such as the state of deterioration of the battery.
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SEM/EDS equipment