Overview

A battery tab is the thin metal strip that carries current from inside a pouch or coin cell out to the external circuit, welded to the current collector at one end and sealed through the package edge with tab film at the other. Specifying titanium rather than the usual nickel or copper buys corrosion resistance in electrolyte, high specific strength and biocompatibility, so these tabs show up in implantable medical cells, marine power packs and other long-life specialty cells. Photochemical etching cuts the titanium foil into outlines with notches, locating holes, mesh zones or half-etched steps; because removal is chemical there are no stamped burrs, which matters enormously here, since even a microscopic burr can pierce the separator and cause an internal short.

Because the geometry is imaged, outline, weld land and tab-film position are all set by the artwork and repeat identically from the first article to high volume. A titanium battery tab is therefore easy to customise to a given cell format, with half-etched steps and selective surface roughening letting the weld area and seal area be treated differently. Typical stock is Grade 1/2 commercially pure titanium between 0.05 mm and 0.5 mm with ±0.02 mm outline tolerance, and nickel, nickel-plated copper and aluminium can be run as comparison options. We support rapid prototypes, sheet or reel supply and weld-pull plus resistance data for each lot.

Parameter Window

• Available Materials: Grade 1/2 CP titanium, Ti-6Al-4V, nickel, nickel-plated copper, aluminium
• Material Thickness Range: 0.05–0.5 mm (commonly 0.1–0.3 mm)
• Tolerance: ±0.02 mm on outline, ±0.01 mm on half-etched step
• Minimum Feature: 0.10 mm slot or hole, 0.15 mm web width
• Surface Options: passivation, acid pickling, Ni plating, etch roughening, vacuum anneal
• Compliance: ISO 9001 process control, RoHS/REACH material traceability

Manufacturing Process / Workflow (8 Steps)

1. Artwork & DFM Review — Convert the tab outline into vector artwork and check notches, locating holes and weld-land width against 0.05–0.5 mm stock.
2. Material Selection — Choose Grade 1/2 CP titanium in the right temper for corrosion and welding, then confirm flatness before lamination.
3. Cleaning & Lamination — Degrease and laminate dry-film photoresist on both faces, verifying adhesion on the titanium surface under controlled heat and pressure.
4. UV Exposure — Expose the outline and half-etch regions through high-resolution film registered to the sheet datum for panel-level accuracy.
5. Development — Wash out unexposed resist to open the etch areas, then inspect half-etched steps and narrow slots for residue.
6. Controlled Etching — Spray etchant matched to titanium, holding step depth and sidewall through time, temperature and conveyor speed to avoid breakthrough.
7. Stripping & Finishing — Remove resist, neutralize, then passivate, pickle or Ni-plate, roughen the weld land and vacuum-anneal if flatness requires it.
8. Inspection & Packaging — Verify hole size, outline and burr-free edges against the approved first article, sample weld pull and resistance, then pack on liner or in reels.

Core Advantages

1. Burr-free edges: Chemical removal leaves no sheared burr, so the tab cannot pierce the separator or cut the tab film during sealing.
2. Repeatable geometry: Outline, weld land and half-etch step come from one film, so the whole lot assembles without per-part trimming.
3. Corrosion resistance: Titanium resists electrolyte and body fluids without pitting, which suits implantable and marine long-life cells.
4. Light weight: High specific strength and low density make the strip lighter than a nickel equivalent where mass is critical.
5. Low tooling cost: A new outline is only a new film, keeping prototypes and multi-format small batches economical.
6. Zoned finishing: Weld-land roughening and a smooth seal area can be combined, with sheet or reel supply — what a titanium battery tab program needs for reliable sealing.

Typical Applications

• Pouch lithium cells: Positive and negative lead tabs with burr-free edges and reliable heat-seal lands.
• Coin cells: Miniature lead and contact strips with small size and stable tolerance for automated assembly.
• Implantable medical power: Corrosion-resistant lead tabs for pacemaker cells that are biocompatible and long-lived.
• Supercapacitors: High-current lead and bridge strips with low resistance and smooth edges.
• Marine battery packs: Salt-spray-resistant tabs and bus strips for long-term humid service.
• Fuel cell leads: Current take-off strips for bipolar plates, corrosion-resistant with flow-matched outlines.

Design Notes & Process Considerations

1. Width versus current: Size tab width from carry current; too narrow a strip heats up, so calculate from current and thickness rather than outline alone.
2. Zoned callouts: Mark weld land, tab-film seal area and exposed area separately, since each needs a different surface condition.
3. Burr criterion: Write the no-burr requirement into the drawing and attach an edge micrograph to the approved sample, since a spike can pierce the separator.
4. Half-etch datum: Give half-etch depth its own tolerance, separate from through-cut dimensions, so the weld-land thickness baseline is not lost.
5. Finish impact: Name the coating and thickness, as Ni plating or roughening changes weld resistance and seal adhesion.
6. Panelization: Group several formats on one sheet with shared registration marks to cut handling cost on repeat titanium battery tab orders.