Marvin Ho is Hammond Group's VP of R&D

1. Working Together for the Future of Pb-Acid Batteries
Marvin Ho, Ph.D.
Hammond Group Inc.
Working Together for the Future of Pb-Acid Batteries
Advanced Positive Additives
for Lead-Acid Batteries

2. 85+ Years Serving the Battery Industry
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Oxide Production: Pottstown, PA
Corporate Headquarters: Hammond, IN
Oxide Production: Hammond, IN
Expanders UK: Newcastle, England
Performance Additives: Kuala Lumpur
Expanders US Production
Advanced Battery Lab: Hammond, IN
BCI Innovation
Award Winner
Hall of Fame
Inductee
Redevelopment
Award Winner
Lead Oxides Performance Additives

3. Performance Additives Research Center
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4. Copyright, Hammond Group Inc. 20174
SureCure®
Tetrabasic Lead Sulfate Seed Crystals
First to develop TTBLS seed crystals in
dry powder with customer trials in 2003

5. Benefits of Tetrabasic Lead Sulfate
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• Reduced shedding and
softening
• Longer battery life
Produces active
material with
more durable
structure
• Cost savings (3-5%)
• Performance improvements
Allows paste
density to be
reduced

6. Key Messages
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• Tetrabasic Lead Sulfate (TTBLS or 4BS) seed crystals had been
successfully used as a positive paste additive to improve cycle
life performance.
• With all the development works done on negative additives,
positive plate will once again become the limiting factor of
lead acid battery performance.
• Hammond’s focus on innovation is driving the development
of advanced 4BS seed crystals to improve the performance of
lead acid chemistry.

7. Copyright, Hammond Group Inc. 20177
Paste Additive
Study

8. Background
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• “Seeding” the paste with 4BS crystals eliminates
energy of crystallization and promotes further
formation of 4BS on these “seeds”.
Heterogeneous Nucleation
• Customers prefer SureCure® 100 typically for
automotive batteries and SureCure® LD for deep
cycle applications.
• SureCure® MOD A has particle size between 100
and LD products.
• Treated SureCure is the next generation of SureCure
product.
SureCure® 100
SureCure® LD
SureCure® MOD A
Treated SureCure®
• 1% of the oxide weight is typically required.1% Addition Rate

9. Positive Additive Study – Test Plan
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Materials Studied:
• SureCure® LD (~3.0 µm)
• SureCure® 100 (~1.0 µm)
• SureCure® Mod A (~1.4 µm)
• Treated SureCure ® (surface and other
treatments)
Material Analysis and Cell
Performance Tests:
• Particle Size Analysis/BET
• XRD/SEM
• Crank/Capacity/HPPC
• Gas Evolution Index
• Cycling (17.5% & 100% DOD)
1 Ah cells: One positive plate
and two negative plates

10. Curing Profile
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
RelativeHumidity(%)
Temperature(˚C)
Time (hr)
Temperature Relative Humidity

11. Various Particle Sizes of TTBLS
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SureCure® 100
Tetrabasic Lead Sulfate milled to ~1 μm
SureCure® LD
Tetrabasic Lead Sulfate milled to ~3 μm
Magnification
20,000x

12. Test Variables
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Description
Additive PSD
D50 (μm)
Cured Plate BET
(m2/g)
SureCure® 100 0.980 0.3401
SureCure® LD 3.165 0.2713
SureCure® Mod A 1.351 0.3651
Treated SureCure® 100 - 0.5399
Treated SureCure® LD - 0.6369

13. TTBLS Development During Curing
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14. SEM Analysis - SureCure®100
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Paste Out of Mixer Plate at End of Curing
Magnification
9,000x

15. SEM Analysis - SureCure® LD
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Paste Out of Mixer Plate at End of Curing
Magnification
9,000x

16. SEM Analysis - Treated SureCure® 100
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Paste Out of Mixer Plate at End of Curing
Magnification
9,000x

17. Crank Test
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18. Capacity Test
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19. HPPC Test
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20. Gas Evolution Index
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21. Cell Cycling Test (17.5% DOD)
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22. Battery Cycling Test (100%DOD)
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Different
Charge
Return

23. Autopsy After Cycling Test
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Control – SureCure® 100
Mushy Active Material
Treated SureCure®
Soft Active Material

24. Conclusions
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• BET of cured plates is not a good indicator for
predicting battery capacity.
• Larger size of SureCure® seed crystals improves
cycling performance.
• Treated SureCure® seed crystals improved the
cycle life performance by 20-30% in both cell and
battery testing.
• The mechanism of how Treated SureCure® reacts
in PAM is still under investigation.

25. Future Work
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• Investigate how the Treated SureCure® seed
crystals react in PAM during cycling.
• Proceed with more battery tests to confirm the
benefits of Treated SureCure® seed crystals.
• Work on the commercialization of treated
SureCure® seed crystals.

26. Copyright, Hammond Group Inc. 201726
Hammond Group Inc. is dedicated to the
advancement of lead-acid battery technology
through research, technical assistance
programs and providing high quality
performance additives to our customers.