ECS-R Mini Cold Rolling Press (W=40mm) (Ar-Glovebox Compatible), ERMCRP

A mini cold rolling press (or benchtop calender/rolling mill) is a foundational piece of hardware in advanced electrochemical laboratories. It is used to density battery electrode sheets after slurry coating or to mechanically fabricate thin metal foils (such as lithium or lithium-indium alloys) for all-solid-state and lithium-metal battery architectures. 

Electrode Calendering: After active material slurries are slot-die or doctor-blade coated onto a current collector and dried, the layer remains highly porous. Passing it through a cold rolling press reduces porosity to a target 20% to 30%, optimizing particle-to-particle electronic contact, increasing volumetric energy density, and improving electrolyte wettability.

Foil Thinning and Lamination: For solid-state or next-generation lithium anodes, standard commercial foils are often too thick (100 um to 200 um). A high-precision mini rolling press allows researchers to repeatedly reduce pure lithium strips or ductile intermetallic combinations down to ultra-thin profiles (10 um to 30 um) without thermal degradation.

References:

J. Zhang, et al., Investigation on mechanical and microstructural evolution of lithium-ion battery electrode during the calendering process,Powder Technology, 2022, 409, 117828

M. Abdollahifar, et al., Insights into Influencing Electrode Calendering on the Battery Performance, Adv Energy Mater., 2023, 13, 2300973.