For those of you on the go, isostatic pressing is a sort of chemical bear hug, in which fluids and gasses are combined in a closed system to apply uniform pressure on a substance. Loosely speaking, it is similar to sintering, which involves compressing a powder into a fully integrated solid without having to liquefy it first.
“All these materials have their unique advantages that researchers would like to exploit,” explains Oak Ridge researcher Marm Dixit. “That’s why it’s important that you can do isostatic pressing at anywhere from room temperature to several thousand degrees Fahrenheit: It means you can use anything from polymers to oxides, the whole range of materials.”
If you’re wondering who that mystery partner is, so are we. In the meantime, the Energy Department is not letting the grass grow under Oak Ridge’s feet. The agency announced a $16 million funding pot forjust yesterday, with $16 million to be shared among five projects. That includes $4 million going to Oak Ridge for a project called, “Manufacturing of Large Format, High-Energy Density, and Long Durablity Solid-State Batteries With Oxide Electrolyte.
Not to raise expectations too high, the Energy Department is not asking for thousands of cycles — yet. The goal of this particular project is a more modest one of 500 cycles, at 350 watt-hours per kilogram or more.an advanced battery manufacturing system The other partner in the Oak Ridge project, HighT-Tech, has developed an ultra-fast, high temperature sintering technology for producing solid-state batteries, with a focus on sodium-ion technology. As described by HighT, their UHS process addresses a laundry list of. That includes a savings on cost, materials, and time compared to conventional sintering systems.