Improving the safety, performance and sustainability of batteries through adhesive tape technology

Smart and innovative adhesive tapes that can be detached on demand enable new product designs with the ability to reduce waste, improve recycling, enable repairs and promote a circular economy in various industries. It may seem like a difficult task to sell adhesive tapes that don't always stick. In fact, tesa's innovative adhesive tapes that stick and release on demand are becoming increasingly popular with customers worldwide.

These state-of-the-art adhesive tapes open up new battery designs that enable reworking during manufacturing, thus reducing scrap costs, facilitating repairs during the use phase and enabling recycling at the end of the life cycle, thereby promoting a circular economy. This means that it is possible to attach and detach battery components such as cells, modules, cooling plates, etc. quickly and cleanly by using these smart adhesive tapes. Therefore, Debonding on Demand (DoD) tapes are particularly attractive for companies that want to save resources and position themselves as pioneers in terms of sustainability while staying one step ahead of their competitors and regulatory changes.

A diverse and growing range of DoD methods are now being integrated into adhesive tapes for a variety of products and applications in EV batteries. Scientific experts at tesa have already filed more than 20 patents for removable adhesive tapes.

tesa® Bond & Detach works with a simple but reliable mechanism: residue-free removal thanks to a stretch and release mechanism. Developed from the well-known tesa® Powerstrips, these Bond & Detach® tapes feature a tab that users simply pull to remove the tape. There is no need for additional equipment, high temperatures or aggressive solvents that could damage high-value components. The stretching mechanism ensures residue-free removal without leaving any traces to allow easy reuse of parts without extensive cleaning. Of course, this can also be implemented in an automated process using concepts from tesa.

In the EV battery industry, DoD tapes are only at the beginning of their journey. The road ahead still holds many twists and turns. The Council of the EU recently laid down new rules to strengthen sustainability rules for batteries and waste batteries from production to reuse and recycling. Now car manufacturers are starting to race to get an early advantage in this industry. With the increasing popularity of electric cars, there are additional opportunities to utilize DoD technologies in automotive applications such as battery assembly, cell assembly and battery tray sealing, electronic control units and other components within EV battery architectures.