ADHESIVES | E -MOBILITY
“Our portfolio includes thermal
interface materials, adhesives,
sealants and functional coatings
for battery packs, but also other
speci c components on the car,” says
Frank Kerstan, director e-mobility &
powertrain at Henkel. “We combine
this material expertise together with
engineering support to work with
our customers on new designs in a
very early phase, to ultimately allow
them to achieve smarter and more
cost-ef cient designs for certain
components.”
COIL PRE-TREATMENT
As part of its active global support
for the metal coil industry, Henkel is
partnering with major coil producers
to implement dedicated process
solutions for end applications in
e-mobility. In addition, the company
is also addressing demands
for reducing the complexity of
downstream manufacturing steps
by enabling continuous upstream
functional coating processes
without compromising the technical
properties of the coated material.
E-mobility is a megatrend
that requires new approaches to
enable the production of electrical
applications in increasingly larger
volumes, as required to meet the
expected growth of hybrid and
fully electrical vehicles. Metal coil
producers play an essential role
in this market, supplying steel and
aluminium coils to the manufacturers
of batteries, transformers, converters,
wound cores, shunt reactors and
other key components for e-drive and
electri ed powertrain systems.
Henkel is determined to help its
customers in this dynamic market
segment to steer the future of
e-mobility and gain a competitive
edge with a complete portfolio of
products and services for metal pretreatment
and functional coating.
Moreover, in underscoring its
commitment to the metal industry
beyond established downstream
solutions, the company is also
exploring advanced
concepts
together
with major
metal coil
manufacturers,
designed
to bring the
value-added bene ts of its functional
coating products to upstream
processes.
“So far, most functional coatings
are applied in secondary process
steps at the battery or component
manufacturers’ sites, increasing the
manufacturing complexity of end
products, which is a considerable
time and cost factor particularly
with high-volume applications,”
explains Aziz Mabrouki, business
director metal coil Europe for Henkel.
“In close collaboration with major
customers, we have developed an
integrated coil pre-treatment and
functional coating technology that can
be applied in a continuous upstream
process and will not only maintain
but even improve the performance
properties of the coated metal. In
other words, adding value right on
the coil.”
Henkel’s process know-how
extends across the entire value chain
from the rolling oil for electrical
steel to speci c pickling inhibitors
and cleaners to specialised new
functional and conductive thin
coatings, such as for covering the
aluminium foil used in EV battery
systems. Besides providing reliable
corrosion protection for painted or
unpainted substrates, these products
have been custom-tailored to
improve the overall performance of
e-mobility applications by enhancing
insulation and bonding properties,
magnetic permeability and electrical
conductivity. At the same time, they
also address important sustainability
goals, such as minimised product
consumption and waste and the
phase-out of hexavalent chromium
(CR VI) in metal treatment.
Latest product innovations targeted
at both upstream and downstream
metal pre-treatment and functional
coating for end products in e-mobility
include:
■ Bonderite O-TO dedicated product
range
■ Bonderite M-CR 12 series
In addition to the company’s
comprehensive product
portfolio for the metal coil
industry, Henkel also offers
special equipment to ensure
best manufacturing practices
in many coil process steps.
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24 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK
UK | APRIL 2020
/WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK