Ultra thin battery aluminum foil is mainly used in the digital field, such as drones, button batteries and other areas. We are the only enterprise in the world that can mass produce 8-9 micrometer battery aluminum foil. The trend of thinning in the power battery and energy storage battery industries is very evident. Originally, both domestic and foreign battery aluminum foils were 20 micrometers in thickness. Now, the mainstream battery aluminium foil products are 12-15 micrometers. In the future, we will promote the large-scale production of power batteries aluminium foil with a thickness of 10 micrometers and energy storage batteries with a thickness of 10-11 micrometers. Currently, the main competitors in the industry can only produce ordinary products with a thickness of 13-15 micrometers, and their technology and production capacity are also unstable, so they have not been able to reach production. We are at least five years ahead of our peers in terms of technological reserves and production capacity preparation. In fact, thinning technology is very difficult. Currently, there are very few companies that can break through from 13 micrometers to 12 micrometers. LG, Tesla, and other foreign brands provide 12 micrometer products.
Continuing to thin to 10-11 micrometers is even more challenging because not only do we need to thin it, but we also need to maintain the tensile performance. Battery aluminum foil is very different from food packaging foil. Battery aluminum foil is not annealed and is in a hard state, while food packaging foil is annealed and is in a soft state. The strength requirements and impurity requirements are completely different. Food packaging foil can be made very thin, but thinning battery foil from 12 micrometers to 10-11 micrometers is very difficult and has reached the critical point of rolling technology.
As for new products in sodium-ion batteries: From the current testing situation, sodium-ion batteries may use ultra thin battery aluminum foil products with a thickness of 10-11 micrometers. Sodium-ion batteries have the disadvantage of lower energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries, so they need to use high end ultra thin aluminum foil products to improve the energy density. In the future, rapid scaling of sodium-ion batteries will not only bring a lot of incremental growth to the battery aluminum foil industry but also improve its performance!
