Introduction of a New Dry Process Microporous Membrane Morphology

Battery technology is rapidly spreading deeper into each of our lives. As Celgard, LLC is a leading supplier to the battery industry, Celgard® microporous lithium ion battery separators are in the middle of this energy evolution. What began as a consumer electronics necessity has rapidly transformed to include applications in transportation and advanced electrical grid management.  Celgard membranes have repeatedly demonstrated excellent performance in the battery industry.

After significant development efforts, we have been successful in producing a new type of morphology for dry process microporous membranes. Made through our proprietary biaxial orientation process, these membranes possess wholly unique properties amongst commercially available membranes. This class of materials has a unique morphology that creates highly uniform pore structures and tensile properties unlike that of traditional dry process membranes.

Owing to their unique pore structure, these membranes may have extremely high porosity (65-80% porosity) and significantly higher transverse direction tensile strength when compared to traditional dry process membranes. Furthermore, the high porosity and highly uniform pore size and shape combine to create a membrane with exceptionally high gas transfer.  Here, we report on the general process used to create these materials, as well as some of the new applications, such as those requiring high moisture vapour transport rate (MVTR), that benefit from the properties of this highly-porous material.