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This article feature covers Japanese startups with innovative technologies. We explain the origin of their technologies, advantages, and impacts on the society.
LINK-US Co., Ltd., is a company with a unique patented metal bonding technology. Its technology, using ultrasonic vibrations to bond metals together without the need for solders, is gaining attention as being cost-effective and time-saving. As demand for lithium-ion batteries and power devices for electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing, the company is receiving more orders from major overseas clients. We interviewed CEO Jun Mitsuyuki.
We develop and provide patented technologies for metal bonding. The conventional ways of bonding metal which are used the most often are welding (the process of melting ground metal) and brazing (the process of bonding by using solder). The most well-known in the industry is welding, including laser welding, which can weld at low temperatures. Another well-known brazing category is soldering or brazing.
Unlike welding, which involves melting and bonding metal, our ultrasonic bonding method joins materials together directly using ultrasonic vibrations without melting metals. This new method of bonding metals is currently gaining attention. There are other manufacturers that use ultrasonic waves to bond metals, but we are the only manufacturer in the world with patented ultrasonic complex vibration bonding technology, which can make ultrasonic vibrations with elliptical and circular movements.
Other companies use linear vibration technology instead of circular vibration. Linear vibration uses oscillating vibration that moves back and forth in a straight line. This method wastes vibration energy because the speed is reset with every fold back. It also heavily damages the plate on the material side.
On the other hand, our complex vibration bonding produces vibrations in a circular shape. The speed is not reset, and it can make joints very efficiently with low energy, low damage, and high strength.
I met Dr. Jiromaru Tsujino about ten years ago through my previous job. He invented the ultrasonic complex vibration technology and is the chairman of our company and professor emeritus at Kanagawa University.
My previous job was at a general processing manufacturer, where I witnessed the entire process from upstream process to assembly. The most difficult and important part of manufacturing is metal bonding. Metal bonding is the key process in manufacturing, and I thought it would be a waste if the world did not know about Dr. Tsujino's invention, so I decided to start my own business.
At first, it was very difficult to reach stable complex vibration performance without any misalignments or variations by equipment. We developed the machine until we were able to draw the same appropriate elliptical trajectory for all of them when multiple units were ordered by a customer. About five years ago, an employee who is a professional in ultrasonic technology joined our company, enabling us to mass produce products without variation.
Complex vibration bonding has two major advantages
Ultrasonic waves are very difficult to handle, especially when using linear vibration bonding, which requires you to frequently replace horn, a large component that amplifies the vibrations. In an extreme case, you need to replace horn once every 2,000 shots. Each time this happens, the production line stops for several hours, losing enough time to produce several hundred thousand units of automotive lithium-ion batteries such as the 2170 cylindrical Lib. We started using replaceable horn tips so that only the tips needed to be replaced, reducing the time required to replace them to only one or two minutes.
This significantly reduces the time needed to replace consumable parts and increase utilization rate. In addition, the consumables themselves last longer because they do not fold back, which causes friction. Because the replacement parts are small, their prices are about half to one third of those of linear vibration machines, which also makes our customers pleased.
Another advantage is that it reduces spatter. Welding is always accompanied by spatter (flying droplets). If this happens inside the battery, it may cause foreign matter to enter the battery, possibly resulting in ignition.
Ultrasonic bonding is unlikely to produce spatter since it does not involve the process of melting metal. However, linear vibration welding causes significant damage to the material side where it folds back and scatters shaved metal. Complex vibration welding does not involve folding back and can bond using less energy, reducing damage to the material and avoiding spatter.
Currently, there is an increasingly overwhelming demand for batteries throughout the world, mainly for automotive use. The demand for battery bonding is the strongest, followed by power devices. In the semiconductor area, performance and precision are becoming more advanced with the spread of EVs.
Soldering is disappearing from the manufacturing of high-precision next-generation power devices. This is because SiC devices*, which are expected to be the mainstream next-generation automotive power device, can perform even at temperatures as high as 300 degrees Celsius, but solder, which is vulnerable to the thermal environment, cannot be used there.
It is said that spatter and foreign matter are the causes of batteries burning. There have been accidents involving passenger car batteries spewing smoke or smartphones catching on fire, and it is believed that they were caused by linear vibration ultrasonic bonding. There have also been a great number of fires caused by errors in bonding and mass product recalls due to reasons traced back to laser welding. We believe that our technology will increase the chances of creating safer batteries that will not burn.
We are focusing on cylindrical batteries, which have low cost and high stability and is the product most suitable for ultrasonic complex vibration bonding. Tesla, BMW, GM, and others are also adopting these batteries for automotive use.
Since our founding, we have partnered with Japan's biggest battery manufacturer to develop a long, thin horn which we have already commercialized. We were able to commercialize it exclusively because complex vibration bonding does not involve folding back like in linear vibration bonding, allowing stable bonding even though the horn is long and thin. In addition, our products are attracting a great deal of attention for use for new 4680 batteries (cylindrical battery with a diameter of 46 mm and length of 80 mm), which are lithium-ion batteries for automobiles such as Tesla's, and we are currently working with manufacturers to commercialize this product.
There is also a growing need for smaller batteries, such as 2170 batteries (21 mm diameter and 70 mm length). We believe that our unique technology can contribute to the evolution of all batteries. Our first immediate goal is to enter the cylindrical battery market.
We think investments into batteries will peak between 2023 and 2024, and then it will shift to power devices one or two years later, so we are planning to approach that area then.
We have been targeting four main markets since our founding. The first is batteries. The second is power devices. The third is cutting instruments including medical equipment, and the fourth is devices for outer space.
We know that our technology can be used to produce more efficient ultrasonic scalpels in the medical field. We are doing a joint development project with a medical device manufacturer. Regarding outer space, we think that ultrasonic bonding at the atomic level may be able to solve cases that are difficult to do with existing bonding methods such as soldering.
We are looking to expand overseas and about to start business with LG Energy Solution, Samsung Electronics, and SK in South Korea. In the future, we are looking to enter the Chinese market and do business with European manufacturers.
Our bonding technology can also play a major role in key EV parts, such as batteries, power devices, and motors. Our joining machines will be indispensable for the spread of EVs and production of affordable EVs. I hope that people around the world will realize that a Japanese startup like us can contribute to the promotion of EVs.
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