Numerical Investigation of the Local Shear Rate in a Twin-Screw Extruder for the Continuous Processing of Li-Ion Battery Electrode Slurries

Abstract

The mixing step for electrode slurry preparation in the manufacture of batteries is highly relevant because it directly affects the downstream production processes and the performance of the battery cells. In this work, a study of the flow behavior and material strain in a twin-screw extruder is carried out to analyze its efficiency for continuous battery slurry processing. Here, individual elements of the extruder screw are simulated using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. Based on the resulting flow profiles, a dimensionless analysis is used to validate the calculations. Hence, the local shear rate and pressure profiles are evaluated for different screw geometries. The effects of the screw design and process setup are discussed, to accordingly improve the mixing process.