47 E-Mobility Engineering | September/October 2025 The Battery Show Europe | Show report functions across the battery life cycle. In production environments, it enables efficient rework of bonded components without destructive disassembly. For aftermarket repairs, technicians can replace individual cells or modules without compromising the entire pack. Perhaps most significantly, the solution facilitates end-of-life recycling by allowing clean separation of battery materials from structural components. Henkel battery recycling expert Philipp tho Pesch emphasises the broader industry implications. “Electrical debonding is the ideal solution for applications close to battery cells. It enables safe disassembly while maintaining the integrity of components for reuse or recycling.” Henkel also seeks to revolutionise adhesive development through its AIdriven material development platform, as detailed by Henkel’s Dr Keon Lee. Over the past year, the company has made significant strides in expanding its material database and creating integrated workflows that connect formulation directly to material properties. This represents a fundamental shift from traditional trial-and-error methods to a simulation-first approach. The system now generates material cards that allow customers to simulate mechanical, thermal and application performance before physical testing begins. “We’re working in reverse from the classical approach,” explains Dr Lee. “Instead of testing formulations to find properties, we start with the desired properties and use AI to determine the optimal formulation.” This capability is particularly valuable for battery pack assembly and structural components where material performance is critical. At the core of the innovation is Henkel’s proprietary AI algorithm, which predicts adhesive behaviour. After virtual validation, the process moves to physical testing – but only with the most promising formulations identified by the AI, significantly accelerating development cycles. “Once we find the recipes, we just create the formulation and repeat the test task for validation,” Dr Lee explains. “Once it’s validated, then our customer can just take the samples, and they can significantly save time and cost without running iterative simulations and tests. Hollingsworth & Vose (H&V) is developing a glass-fibre-based thermal barrier for lithium-ion batteries. The non-woven material, BarrierPro, introduced at this year’s event, combines glass fibres with proprietary functional materials to withstand temperatures up to 1200 C while maintaining dimensional stability. “We designed this material to compete with the best thermal barriers in performance while offering a costeffective alternative to solutions like aerogels,” said Nick Zafiropoulos of H&V. The wet-laid manufacturing process allows strategic integration of functional additives to reduce thermal conductivity. Currently in rolled-good form, the material is tailored for cell-to-cell applications, with potential for diecutting to fit prismatic, pouch or even certain cylindrical cell configurations. While internal testing has demonstrated thermal stability through torch testing, H&V is now engaging with converters and OEMs for sampling and systemlevel validation. Rockwell Automation presented its digital twin platform Emulate3D designed to address the complexities of battery manufacturing, from plant simulation to identifying potential control issues pre-emptively. Enhanced by NVIDIA Omniverse capabilities, the Emulate3D Factory Test enables large-scale virtual testing of entire production facilities, integrating diverse automation systems regardless of PLC brand. “The solution allows engineers to simulate machine behaviour, analyse throughput, identify bottlenecks, validate control logic and train operators in a virtual environment before physical deployment,” explains Dominique Scheider of Rockwell Automation. The platform prioritises risk mitigation by focusing on critical subsystems, such as process control for mixing and calendaring, while interfacing with tools such as MATLAB for real-time physical reaction modelling. Rockwell distinguishes its approach by simulating plant logistics and machinery rather than battery chemistry, although it can embed third-party digital twins – such as thermal or vibration data from cell designs – into its models. Beyond production, Rockwell partners with Circulor, a London-based firm, to implement battery passport solutions compliant with 2027 EU regulations. The platform enables end-to-end material and resource tracking from mining to end-oflife recycling, ensuring traceability. Novac is embedding pouch-format 12 V supercapacitors into structural components such as this carbon fibre Formula One car engine cover, with potential for use in eVTOL aircraft (Image courtesy of the author)
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