Enhanced-Lifespan Saggars for Battery Material Production Scale Up (SAGGAR-LIFE)

"烧箱是一种陶瓷容器，用于在炉内烧制过程中封闭或保护产品。对于电池材料生产的竞争力和增长来说，酒壶寿命是一个非常重要的经济因素，这不仅是因为酒壶的耐用性增加了每个酒壶可以生产的电池材料量，还减少了废物的产生，以及新的和废弃的酒壶的物流和运输成本。大多数常见的商业酒壶由不同比例的材料组成，如氧化铝和二氧化硅。这种材料可能容易受到它们被设计为容纳的电池材料的化学攻击和腐蚀。随着电池材料生产市场的快速增长，有机会开发对电池材料具有良好兼容性的烧箱，以提高烧箱寿命，从而能够将烧箱重新用于电池材料的多个生产周期。增加酒壶循环次数可显着减少所需的酒壶体积，从而降低运营成本（OpEx）和资本成本（例如通过减少仓储），以及在达到使用寿命时处置受污染的烧箱对环境的影响。该项目将开发、筛选和基准测试具有商业竞争力的烧箱，其具有新的成分和微观结构，以大幅延长烧箱的使用寿命，从而为电池材料的长期商业规模生产提供了可扩展的烧箱的来源途径。理想的陶瓷材料特性是高熔点、耐磨性、化学稳定性、适当的导热性和高温下的抗变形性。沿着仔细考虑适当的原材料粒度和孔隙率，以避免微观结构缺陷在电池材料制造过程中，陶瓷材料的机械和化学耐受性会受到影响。这个由英国制造商组成的供应链联盟汇集了约翰逊万丰在电池材料生产方面的科学专业知识，Vulcan在烧箱开发和制造方面的卓越表现，以及Lucideon在开发测试程序和标准方面的长期经验。它将使联合体成员和英国处于强大的竞争地位，具有成本优化的过程，既利用又提高了各自成员的专业领域。"

"A saggar is a ceramic container to enclose or protect product during the firing process within a furnace. Saggar lifespan is a very important economic factor for the competitiveness and growth of battery material production, not only because durability of the saggar increases the amount of battery material you can make per saggar, but also reduces waste generation, and the costs of logistics and transportation of new and waste saggars.Most common commercial saggars are composed of varying ratios of materials such as alumina and silica. Such materials can be susceptible to chemical attack and corrosion from the battery materials they are designed to hold. With a rapidly growing market for battery material production there is an opportunity to develop saggars that have favourable compatibility for battery materials to enhance the saggar lifespan, enabling re-use of the saggars for multiple production cycles of battery material. Increasing the number of saggar cycles significantly reduces the saggar volumes required, thereby reducing operating cost (OpEx), capital costs (for example by reducing warehousing), and the environmental impact of disposing contaminated saggars when they have reached end-of life.This project will develop, screen and benchmark commercially competitive saggars with novel compositions and microstructures to substantially increase saggar lifespan, thereby offering a sourcing route for scalable saggars for long-term commercial-scale production of battery materials. Ideal ceramic material properties are high melting point, wear resistance, chemical stability, appropriate thermal conductivity and deformation resistance at elevated temperature. Along with careful consideration of appropriate raw material particle size and porosity to avoid microstructural defects (e.g. microcracks, agglomerates, porosity) which have an impact in the mechanical and chemical resistance of the ceramic materials during the battery material manufacturing process.This supply-chain consortium of UK manufacturers brings together Johnson Matthey's scientific expertise in battery material production, Vulcan's excellence in saggar development and manufacture, and Lucideon's longstanding experience in developing testing programmes and standards. It will put the consortium members, and the UK, in a strong competitive position with a cost optimised process, both using and enhancing the respective members' areas of expertise."