Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 148 The Vulcan Explosion Battery is Successfully Manufactured! (First Update!)

This should be the precursor to the battery, right?
Thinking of this, Meng Hai involuntarily took two steps forward and, together with the others, surrounded Cao Bin.

In the middle of the crowd, Cao Bin held up the completely cooled material, displayed it for a while, and then presented it to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi didn't take it, but instead pointed to the ball mill next to him:
"It's been powdered and is now undergoing secondary processing."

Cao Bin didn't say much. He just turned around, picked up the material, and walked towards the ball mill. The opening of the ball mill wasn't very big. He tapped it a few times with a hammer before he could break the material into pieces big enough to fit into the ball mill.

The ball mill started running, emitting a buzzing sound.

Hearing the sound, Meng Hai walked around to Lin Yi's side, looked at the running ball mill, and asked:

"Is the next step a second sintering?"

"Yes!"

After letting out a meaningful "oh," Meng Hai turned his attention to the ball mill.

No wonder this process looks familiar; isn't this the basic process for manufacturing ternary lithium batteries?

First, the precursor is manufactured, then the precursor and lithium salt are ground and mixed, and then sintered a second time.

After sintering, the finished product from the secondary sintering is pulverized using an air jet mill and then classified using a vibrating screen.

This allows us to obtain the positive electrode material for ternary lithium batteries.

Then, by mixing the positive electrode material, conductive agent, binder, and solvent evenly, the slurry for batteries can be obtained.

The slurry is then evenly spread onto the aluminum foil, dried, and compacted to obtain the electrode sheet.

Cut the electrode sheets into the required size and shape, then pack them into the battery pack according to the requirements, and inject electrolyte to obtain a battery.

If this process is followed, then what Lin Yi made wouldn't be a solid-state battery.

The biggest difference between solid-state batteries and ordinary batteries is that solid-state batteries do not contain electrolytes that are flammable, explosive, or prone to leakage in the traditional sense.

Instead, pure solid electrolytes are used, which are typically oxides, sulfides, and polymers.

Since there is no electrolyte, there is naturally no risk of leakage and combustion.

With reduced safety risks, the application scenarios for solid-state batteries will be greatly expanded.

It is precisely because of this that solid-state batteries are referred to as an energy revolution by professionals in the field of energy storage.

but……

Meng Hai looked at Cao Bin with a worried expression, while Cao Bin was busy operating the ball mill.

He poured the powder out of the ball mill, sifted out the coarser powder and threw it back into the mill, while setting aside the qualified powder.

When the last bit of powder was poured out of the ball mill and inspected, Cao Bin's classmates immediately surrounded him and began to operate the equipment as instructed by Cao Bin.

"Raise the furnace temperature to 1500, continue applying pressure, and prepare to add lithium azide powder."

With the sound, the remaining people hurriedly opened the equipment. The completely powdered lithium azide was then fed into a sealed electric furnace through a pressurization device and onto the molten metal, whose name was unknown, which had already begun to melt.

The molten metal churns in the electric furnace, absorbing all the powder blown in, while the atmospheric pressure displayed on the furnace's gauges is about to reach its limit.

The person in charge of operating the equipment reacted quickly, shutting off the pressure pump and stopping the pressure at 98 standard atmospheres.

Through the glass of the electric furnace, Cao Bin observed the internal situation for a while, then turned up the temperature and controlled it at 1600 degrees.

At this temperature, the molten metal inside the furnace churns violently, but under the pressure of 98 atmospheres, it doesn't create much foam.

The temperature remained at 1600℃ for half an hour. Cao Bin glanced at his watch and then at the time on the document.

A gentle wave of the hand:

"Turn off the furnace heating function and set the pressure to 100."

As the heating function of the electric furnace was turned off, the molten metal inside the capacitor furnace stopped churning and gradually became calm. Then, under atmospheric pressure, it slowly filled the square crucible.

About an hour later, the internal temperature of the electric furnace cooled down completely.

The furnace door opened, and Cao Bin took out the crucible. Without stopping, he smashed the crucible and took out the black lumps inside.

He placed the black, blocky object in front of Lin Yi, and after Lin Yi looked at it for a while, he placed the black, blocky object in front of Meng Hai.

Meng Hai hesitated for a moment, then reached out and tapped the black, blocky object.

Dang Dang!

Two very crisp sounds, as if they were being struck on very high-quality floor tiles.

Hearing the voice, Meng Hai felt a mix of emotions.

He was already thinking about how to persuade Qin Chao not to bet on Lin Yi, because betting on the wrong person could lead to death.

His worries went unnoticed by Lin Yi and the others, or rather, even if they had noticed, they wouldn't have taken them to heart.

After examining the piece of charcoal for a while, Lin Yi handed it back to Cao Bin.

"Go and crush it according to the standard, and then mix the conductive agent in evenly."

First, he crushed the charcoal head into powder, then ground it to a certain fineness using a ball mill. After pouring out all the material and cleaning it up, Cao Bin carried the powder to the final process.

Air jet mill.

The working principle of an air jet mill is to use high-pressure, high-speed air to blow powder, causing the powder to collide with each other and eventually break down into extremely fine particles.

Another hour passed, and the air jet mill stopped working. The boxes at the end of the air jet mill were filled with cathode materials of uneven size.

Lin Yi squatted on the ground, picked up a little bit with tweezers, and gently ground it in his hand.

The particles are so fine that they even feel exceptionally smooth when rubbed against your fingertips.

After enjoying the sensation of the powder sliding between his fingertips, Lin Yi picked up one of the boxes and handed it to Cao Bin:

"Go check the crystal phase."

These words acted like a switch, startling Meng Hai, who had been silent and motionless for a long time, into action. He quickly stepped between Cao Bin and Lin Yi:

"I'm here to check. I'm a professor here, and I'm more familiar with these devices than you are."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hands, carefully held the box, and turned to walk out of the laboratory.

They walked toward another laboratory.

On his left and right, Cao Bin and another classmate stood on either side, bending over and reaching out their hands, afraid that Meng Hai might slip and drop the materials on the ground.

That's it.

The other laboratory is called the Testing Laboratory.

The equipment inside is mainly testing equipment.

Meng Hai placed the box containing the positive electrode material powder on the table, took out a high-transparency glass slide from the experimental consumables cabinet, picked up a little positive electrode material powder with tweezers, and sprinkled it evenly onto the glass slide.

Then gently spread the powder evenly.

A few minutes later, the glass slide was placed under the X-ray diffraction probe.

As the X-ray diffraction observation probe began to operate, the relevant statistical phase analysis also appeared on the computer screen.

Looking at what was on the computer screen, a strange expression slowly appeared on Meng Hai's face.

Because he saw something familiar.

Or rather, it's a familiar statistical analysis of crystal phases.

A few days ago, he had seen this crystal phase analysis statistics in the proposal Lin Yi gave him.

It can be said that the crystal phase analysis statistics provided by this X-ray equipment are almost exactly the same as those he saw in the proposal a couple of days ago.

Upon arriving at this conclusion, Meng Hai couldn't help but slap his forehead.

That's unlikely!
It's important to know that the biggest challenge in materials science is replication.

When scholars write papers, they often use rhetoric to make their data look better.

In order to achieve the best possible data. Under this premise, it is very difficult to replicate materials manufactured by others; at the very least, you will have to hit a wall several times before you succeed.

But now, Lin Yi and his men, carrying materials that were clearly bought from an ordinary factory, went to their familiar laboratory, and after a flurry of hammering and frantic operations, perfectly replicated the materials in the documents.

What does this mean?
This is definitely not a new material!

It is a material that has existed for a long time, or rather, that Lin Yi has mastered for a long time, and that his fellow disciples also know how to perfectly replicate.

Thinking of this possibility, Meng Hai wanted to laugh, laughing at his own ignorance and stupidity.

Meng Hai patted his forehead and turned to look at Cao Bin:

"Use these devices yourselves, and be careful when using them."

"I'm going to make two slices."

After leaving those two sentences, Meng Hai suddenly stood up and quickly walked back to the laboratory he had just been in.

X-ray diffraction can only perform statistical phase analysis and cannot perform atomic imaging.

He now needs to make a slice for a transmission electron microscope to directly observe the lattice of these materials and then determine the crystal phase of the materials.

Cao Bin and the others could roughly guess why he was so impulsive, but they didn't take it to heart.

The most urgent task is to complete the required testing work as requested by my senior.

Meng Hai returned to the original laboratory to prepare slides. As soon as he entered, he saw Lin Yi, who had changed his clothes, carefully stirring the slurry at the empty workbench.

Next to him, two other people were adjusting the battery's casing.

The requirements for transmission electron microscopy are very simple: just grind the sample to below 100 nanometers.

At the polishing table, Meng Hai polished the sample while grumbling to himself.

If I had known these people were so ruthless, I should have brought all my apprentices over so they could see for themselves.

Of course, the most important thing is to have the apprentices help polish the samples.

An old guy nearing retirement, hunched over the polishing table, polishing samples less than 100 nanometers thick—it's incredibly exhausting.

He polished it very carefully and diligently.

Just as his first sample was about to be successful, a lump of iron, almost the size of two adult fists, was placed in front of him by a hand.

Meng Hai snapped out of his daze, looked up, and followed the arm upwards, immediately spotting the smiling Lin Yi.

Upon seeing Lin Yi's smile, Meng Hai suddenly looked down at the iron lump being pressed down by that arm.

That shouldn't be a lump of iron; it's a lump of aluminum.

Or.

It should be called a battery.

The silver-white aluminum casing is fitted inside a black plastic frame.

Above the aluminum casing are the battery terminals.

The copper plates on the terminals were still shiny; they were brand new.

White sealant can be seen at the junction of the black plastic shell and the aluminum shell.

The sealant was not completely dry, and a small portion was still dripping down the aluminum shell.

Looking at the battery, Meng Hai slowly put down the sample he was polishing, swallowed hard, and then whispered to Lin Yi:
"Is the battery finished?"

"Done!" Lin Yi replied, placing his right index and middle fingers on the right side of the battery. With a slight push, he propelled the battery forward, towards Meng Hai.
"It contains 3 kilograms of raw materials, and based on an energy density of 520 Wh/kg, it can theoretically be charged with 1.56 kilowatt-hours of electricity."

"But it should be far more than that number."

"Now, this thing is handed over to you, Professor Meng, for you to test."

Lin Yi's words were very generous, and Meng Hai subconsciously wanted to reach out and hug the battery to take a look.

But as soon as his hand touched the battery, it jerked back as if it had been electrocuted.

He then slapped his forehead with the hand he had just withdrawn.

I almost forgot, this is a new battery, a completely new type of battery.

There is a potential risk of explosion.

If you want to take a test, you have to go to an open outdoor area.

Meng Hai glanced at the time; it was already 6 p.m.

It's almost time for dinner.

If I don't go back, my old lady at home will eat me alive.

However, his gaze fell on the battery, and he finally gritted his teeth:

"You guys move the batteries out, I'll go get the power strip and charger."

Ten minutes later, a group of people appeared in the open space outside the laboratory building.

In addition to Lin Yi and his group, there were two more electricians.

Two electricians, one carrying a tool bag and the other carrying a stick that was almost two meters long and as thick as a baby's arm.

After all the procedures were completed, the electrician, carrying his tool bag, looked at Lin Yi and the others and said:

"Everyone, watch out!"

"Don't panic if you get an electric shock. We have rescue batons here. We can smash the cable with one baton and clear the spot where you got an electric shock. There's absolutely nothing to worry about."

As he spoke, the electrician next to him, who was holding a wooden stick, took the opportunity to slam the stick on the ground several times, just like an ancient magistrate sitting on a platform to hold court, with officials below shouting "Majesty!"

Ready, Meng Hai looked at Lin Yi, then at the guillotine in his hand:

"Mr. Lin, are you coming?"

"Professor Meng, please do it!" Lin Yi politely declined, then took the camera from Ji Shuang's hands, took two steps back, and raised the camera.

Click!

With the click of the camera, Meng Hai abruptly switched off the power.

The charging meter lights up, and the charger's charging indicator light illuminates.

It indicates that it is charging.

The wiring was a separate line run by the electrician, and the charger was a laboratory-specific charger.

The charging efficiency is very fast; in just 30 minutes, the red light for charging will turn green, indicating that charging is complete.

The moment the green light turned on, Meng Hai's gaze fell on the electricity meter.

Two electricity meters, each about the size of an adult's fist, displayed a bright red number.

8.1 kWh.

Upon seeing this number, Meng Hai instinctively picked up the electricity meter and punched it twice.

There's something wrong with this electricity meter!

Energy is lost, and in real life, there will be discrepancies between the quantity displayed on the charging meter and the quantity displayed on the battery.

Similarly, manufacturers will also add a little extra capacity when making rechargeable batteries.

The purpose of doing this is not because the battery manufacturers are kind-hearted, but because the energy storage of rechargeable batteries will decrease.

If we expand it a little, we won't lose money too quickly.

Even if there is a loss, it will only be a loss up to the calibrated value.

Consumers who see this will say that the products made by this company are good, and that the product has only declined by so little over the years.

But it definitely won't be that much different!
(End of this chapter)