Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses

Separator membranes are one of the components in batteries and, although being a passive component, they may strongly affect both battery performance and security. Hence, effective control of both its main properties and their variability are critical issues for the battery industry. This work propo...

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Main Authors: Patricia Salso, Vicente Genovés, Beatriz Merillas Valero, Tomas Gómez Álvarez-Arenas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Polymer Testing
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825001515
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author Patricia Salso
Vicente Genovés
Beatriz Merillas Valero
Tomas Gómez Álvarez-Arenas
author_facet Patricia Salso
Vicente Genovés
Beatriz Merillas Valero
Tomas Gómez Álvarez-Arenas
author_sort Patricia Salso
collection DOAJ
description Separator membranes are one of the components in batteries and, although being a passive component, they may strongly affect both battery performance and security. Hence, effective control of both its main properties and their variability are critical issues for the battery industry. This work proposes testing these membranes by the measurement of the spectra of the ultrasonic transmission coefficient (magnitude and phase) using high-frequency and wideband air-coupled ultrasonic pulses. This non-conventional ultrasonic technique for materials testing offers several advantages: it is completely contactless and non-invasive, it is very fast, and it has the potential to be deployed in the fabrication line to test the 100 % of the production in real time. This work shows that it is possible: a) to propagate high-frequency, wideband air-coupled ultrasonic pulses in the frequency range 0.15–2.4 MHz in battery separators, b) to obtain the transmission coefficient spectra, both magnitude and phase; c) to theoretically model this propagation and the transmission coefficient spectra in thin films and then d) to solve the inverse problem to extract some separator properties of interest. The obtained properties depend on the theoretical model use to describe the propagation. For separators with porosity <60 % and pore size big enough (approximately <1 μm for the separators studied here), effective medium approach can be successfully used, while for the other cases, the porous nature of the separator has to be taken into account and the Biot's theory is used.
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spelling doaj-art-656b1f8407234e50a35a7b05d7e6fe1d2025-08-20T03:48:47ZengElsevierPolymer Testing1873-23482025-07-0114810883710.1016/j.polymertesting.2025.108837Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulsesPatricia Salso0Vicente Genovés1Beatriz Merillas Valero2Tomas Gómez Álvarez-Arenas3Instituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de La Información, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), C/Serrano 144, Madrid, 28006, SpainInstituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de La Información, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), C/Serrano 144, Madrid, 28006, SpainCellular Materials Laboratory (CellMat), Condensed Matter Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Valladolid, Campus Miguel Delibes, Paseo de Belén 7, 47011, Valladolid, Spain; BioEcoUVA Research Institute on Bio Economy, University of Valladolid, SpainInstituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de La Información, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), C/Serrano 144, Madrid, 28006, Spain; Corresponding author. Serrano 144, 28006, Madrid, Spain.Separator membranes are one of the components in batteries and, although being a passive component, they may strongly affect both battery performance and security. Hence, effective control of both its main properties and their variability are critical issues for the battery industry. This work proposes testing these membranes by the measurement of the spectra of the ultrasonic transmission coefficient (magnitude and phase) using high-frequency and wideband air-coupled ultrasonic pulses. This non-conventional ultrasonic technique for materials testing offers several advantages: it is completely contactless and non-invasive, it is very fast, and it has the potential to be deployed in the fabrication line to test the 100 % of the production in real time. This work shows that it is possible: a) to propagate high-frequency, wideband air-coupled ultrasonic pulses in the frequency range 0.15–2.4 MHz in battery separators, b) to obtain the transmission coefficient spectra, both magnitude and phase; c) to theoretically model this propagation and the transmission coefficient spectra in thin films and then d) to solve the inverse problem to extract some separator properties of interest. The obtained properties depend on the theoretical model use to describe the propagation. For separators with porosity <60 % and pore size big enough (approximately <1 μm for the separators studied here), effective medium approach can be successfully used, while for the other cases, the porous nature of the separator has to be taken into account and the Biot's theory is used.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825001515Air-coupled ultrasoundLi-ion batteriesbattery separatorNDTPorous polymer film
spellingShingle Patricia Salso
Vicente Genovés
Beatriz Merillas Valero
Tomas Gómez Álvarez-Arenas
Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
Polymer Testing
Air-coupled ultrasound
Li-ion batteries
battery separator
NDT
Porous polymer film
title Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
title_full Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
title_fullStr Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
title_full_unstemmed Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
title_short Testing of polymeric battery separators using air-coupled, high-frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
title_sort testing of polymeric battery separators using air coupled high frequency and wideband ultrasonic pulses
topic Air-coupled ultrasound
Li-ion batteries
battery separator
NDT
Porous polymer film
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825001515
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