LITHIUM-ION SECONDARY-BATTERY CASE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR

Abstract

A lithium-ion secondary-battery case that allows bonding without weld spatter and has high strength against external force acting on the battery case, and a method for manufacturing the lithium-ion secondary-battery case are provided. Specifically, an austenitic stainless steel foil is used for a cup component (2), and a two-phase stainless steel having an austenite transformation start temperature A.sub.C1 in a temperature increase process at 650° C. to 950° C. and an austenite and ferrite two-phase temperature range of 880° C. and higher, is used for a cover component (3), and the diffusion bonding is proceeded while accompanied by grain boundary movement upon transformation of the two-phase steel from a ferrite phase into an austenite phase within a heating temperature range of 880° C. to 1080° C.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for manufacturing a lithium-ion secondary-battery case comprising: bringing a cup component and a cover component into direct contact with each other; and integrating the cup component and the cover component through diffusion bonding, the cup component being formed by deep drawing an austenitic stainless steel foil into a cup-like shape, having a flange formed at a peripheral edge of an opening part thereof, and having a hole for drawing out an electrode terminal formed at a vertical wall part, the cover component being formed of a two-phase stainless steel foil having an austenite transformation start temperature A.sub.C1 in a temperature increase process at 650° C. to 950° C. and having an austenite and ferrite two-phase temperature range of 880° C. and higher, the cover component covering the opening part of the cup component, wherein upon the diffusion bonding, a seam welder is used, a bar-like electrode of a square shape in a cross section is arranged on the cup component side and an electrode wheel of a disc-like shape is arranged on the cover component side, and the diffusion bonding is proceeded while accompanied by grain boundary movement upon transformation of the two-phase stainless steel foil from a ferrite phase into an austenite phase within a heating temperature range of 880° C. to 1080° C.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a lithium-ion secondary-battery case according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a case component according to the embodiment of the invention.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a device according to the embodiment of the invention.

[0025] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the case component for which the spatter dispersion state has been checked.

[0026] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for checking the spatter dispersion state.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0027] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment

[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a lithium-ion secondary-battery case 1 according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 illustrates a cup component 2 forming the lithium-ion secondary-battery case 1. The cup component 2 is obtained by drawing an austenitic stainless steel foil into a cup shape and further piercing holes 6 for drawing out electrode terminals 4 and 5. Performing diffusion bonding of the cup component 2 and a cover component 3 results in the lithium-ion secondary-battery case 1. In the embodiment illustrated, the aforementioned holes 6 are provided at a vertical wall part 7 of the cup component 2, details of which will be described later on.

[0029] The cup component 2 and the cover component 3 use stainless steel foils as materials thereof. For the stainless steel foil used for the cup component 2, that requires the deep drawing, an austenitic stainless steel foil is used.

[0030] On the other hand, for the stainless steel foil used for the cover component 3, a two-phase stainless steel foil is used for the purpose of performing the diffusion bonding with no weld spatter. Both the stainless steel foils normally have a sheet thickness of 0.1 mm or less, although not limited thereto.

[0031] The cup component 2 is obtained by deep drawing the stainless steel foil into a cup shape with a flange 8, and the holes 6 for drawing out the positive electrode terminal 4 and the negative electrode terminal 5 are formed in horizontal symmetry on one surface, on a short side, of the vertical wall part 7. Note that the holes 6 can be formed through, for example, punching. Moreover, the holes 6 each having a rectangular shape are illustrated in the cup component 2 of the embodiment illustrated, but the shape of the holes 6 is not limited to the rectangular shape and may be, for example, a circular shape.

[0032] Although not illustrated, a pair of electrodes serving as a negative electrode and a positive electrode are stored in the cup component 2 with a separator sandwiched therebetween, and the electrode terminals 4 and 5 connected to the respective electrodes are drawn out from the holes 6. Thus, the size of the holes 6 is more or less larger than the size of the electrode terminals 4 and 5, and an insulation component 9 is fitted in a gap between the electrode terminal 4, 5 and the corresponding hole 6 in order to achieve insulation between the cup component 2 and the electrode terminal 4, 5. Synthetic resin products of, for example, polypropylene, although not limited thereto, are preferably used as materials for the insulation components 9. Note that the insulation components 9 may be welded and firmly fixed, according to need, to improve the degree of sealing of the holes 6 through which the electrode terminals 4 and 5 are drawn out.

[0033] Next, upon manufacture of a lithium-ion secondary battery A as illustrated in FIG. 1 by using the lithium-ion secondary-battery case 1, after the electrode terminals 4 and 5 are first drawn out from the holes 6 in a manner as described above, the cover component 3 of a thin plate-like shape having substantially the same size as the size of an outer edge of the flange 8 is superposed on an opening portion of the cup component 2 and diffusion bonding of the cup component 2 and the cover component 3 is performed at a portion of the flange 8 to achieve integral bonding. For the diffusion bonding in the aforementioned case, for example, a seam welder 11 as shown in FIG. 3 is used. For the purpose of avoiding hitting of the electrode terminals 4 and 5 by electrodes used upon the diffusion bonding, in the seam welder 11, a bar-like electrode 11a of, for example, a square shape in a cross section is used as the electrode arranged on the cup component 2 side, and an electrode wheel 11b of a disc-like shape is used as the electrode arranged on the cover component 3 side. Then the bar-like electrode 11a on the cup component 2 side is fixed and the electrode wheel 11b on the cover component 3 side is rotated to perform the bonding.

[0034] Then the insulation components 9 are melted and firmly fixated in a manner so as to fill the gaps between the electrode terminals 4 and 5 drawn out and the holes 6, an electrolytic solution is injected from an injection port, not illustrated, and the injection port is sealed to complete a lithium-ion secondary battery A.

Examples

[0035] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail, referring to examples, but the invention is not limited to the examples.

[0036] A SUS304 foil (with a sheet thickness of 0.1 mm) as an austenitic stainless steel was used as a raw material of the cup component 2. A two-phase stainless steel foil with a sheet thickness of 0.1 mm was used as a material of the cover component 3. Table 1 illustrates alloy components of the respective foils. Note that symbol “-” in Table 1 means “No analyzed value”.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 (% by mass) C Si Mn Ni Cr Cu Mo Al Ti Nb N X value SUS304 0.064 0.49 0.77 8.07 18.30 0.23 0.15 — — — 0.031 −14 Two- 0.061 0.53 0.29 2.00 16.30 0.05 0.05 0.014 0.003 — 0.012 682 phase steel

[0037] The cup component 2 was dimensioned in a manner such that the cup part has a width of 150 mm, a depth of 100 mm, and a height of 20 mm and the flange 8 has a width of 10 mm. The manufacture of the cup component 2 was performed through four processes including blank punching, drawing, hole punching, and flange trimming.

[0038] The electrodes with the separator sandwiched therebetween were stored into the cup component 2 manufactured through the processes described above, and the electrode terminals 4 and 5 were drawn out from the holes 6. Then the cup component 2 and the cover component 3 were superposed on each other, and the diffusion bonding using the seam welder 11 was performed to form a diffusion-bonded part 10.

[0039] As the electrodes for the diffusion bonding, the bar-like electrode 11a of an 8 mm-square shape in a cross section was provided as the electrode on the cup component 2 side, and the electrode wheel 11b of a disk-like shape having a diameter of 100 mm and a width of 5 mm was provided as the electrode on the cover component 3 side. Then as diffusion bonding conditions, the pressurizing force was 150 N, the welding speed was 1.0 m/min, and the welding currents were (A) 0.5 kA, (B) 1.0 kA, and (C) 2.0 kA for continuous energization. Under the aforementioned conditions, the temperatures of the bonding portion are assumed to be (A) 850° C., (B) 1050° C., and (C) 1250° C.

[0040] Then, films made of polypropylene as the insulation components 9 were filled in the gaps between the electrode terminals 4, 5 and the holes 6, and the films were heat-melted at 120° C. and the electrode terminals 4 and 5 were firmly fixed while insulated from the cup component 2 to thereby manufacture the case component. Finally, a 6-fluoro lithium phosphate-based electrolytic solution was injected from the injection hole, not illustrated, into the case component to manufacture the lithium-ion secondary battery A.

[0041] The manufactured lithium-ion secondary battery A was repeatedly charged and discharged for one month and the states of the battery, for example, leakage of the electrolytic solution, were evaluated. Results of the evaluation showed no leakage of the electrolytic solution from the diffusion-bonded part 10 and no short-circuit attributable to weld spatter.

[0042] Next, a large number of case components each bonded to the cover component 3 at only one side of the flange 8, as illustrated in FIG. 4, were manufactured in the aforementioned three types of bonding conditions (A) to (C), and ten of the manufactured case components were taken out, and the spatter dispersion states thereof were checked. A method for checking the spatter dispersion states is as follows. First, 1000 mL of ultrapure water 13 (in which the number of particles having a particle size of 0.2 μm or more was equal to or less than one/mL) was poured into a washed container 12, and ultrasonic wave application was performed for five minutes with the diffusion-bonded part immersed in the ultrapure water (see FIG. 5). An ultrasonic cleaner (W-118 produced by HONDA ELECTRONICS CO. LTD and having a frequency of 45 kHz and an output of 600 W) was used for the ultrasonic wave application. Then the particles in the obtained extract were collected by a filter with a hole diameter of 0.1 μm and the spatter dispersion states were observed through SEM-EDX measurement.

[0043] As a result, no metal element was confirmed in the bonding conditions (A) and (B) while a metal element was confirmed in the bonding condition (C).

[0044] The cross section of the diffusion-bonded part was observed with a microscope and a metal structure on the cover component 3 side was checked, results of which showed that an interface at the bonded part was diffusion-bonded without a welded nugget in the bonding conditions (A) and (B) while the interface at the bonded part was melted and a welded nugget was formed in the bonding condition (C).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0045] The lithium-ion secondary battery according to the present invention is preferably used as a polymer type lithium-ion secondary battery.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0046] A Lithium-ion secondary battery [0047] 1 Lithium-ion secondary-battery case [0048] 2 Cup component [0049] 3 Cover component [0050] 4 (Positive) electrode terminal [0051] 5 (Negative) electrode terminal [0052] 6 Hole [0053] 7 Vertical wall part [0054] 8 Flange [0055] 9 Insulation component [0056] 10 Diffusion-bonded part [0057] 11 Seam welder [0058] 11a Bar-like electrode [0059] 11b Electrode wheel [0060] 12 Container [0061] 13 Ultrapure water