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สรุป

This report aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the key role, market opportunities and future development trends of precision slitting machine technology in two high-growth strategic emerging industries - new energy (especially lithium-ion batteries) and flexible displays. As a key equipment for the back-end processing of core materials such as electrodes, diaphragms, and optical films, the technical level and performance of the slitting machine directly determine the quality, safety and production cost of the final product. With the explosive growth of the new energy market and the rapid popularization of flexible display technology, high-end slitting machines are ushering in unprecedented development opportunities, and their technological evolution is rapidly developing in the direction of high precision, high efficiency, high intelligence and integrated solutions.

1. Introduction: Introduction and strategic position of slitting machines

Slitting Machine is a precision equipment that cuts and slits wide rolls of material into multiple rolls of narrow material by cutting and slitting them with blades according to the process requirements. Its core processes include unwinding, correction, slitting, winding, etc.

In the field of new energy and flexible displays, the materials processed by slitting machines have the characteristics of high value, high precision, and high sensitivity (such as battery poles are easy to fall off, separators are easy to perforate, and optical films are easy to scratch), so they are no longer simple "cutting" tools, but high-end intelligent manufacturing equipment integrating mechanical engineering, materials science, sensing technology, automatic control and machine vision. Its strategic position is crucial, and it is the "finishing" link in the industrial chain, which is directly related to the yield rate and competitiveness of downstream products.

2. Development opportunities in the field of new energy

The rapid development of the new energy field, especially the lithium-ion battery industry, has provided the strongest growth momentum for the slitting machine market.

1. ปัจจัยขับเคลื่อนตลาด:

• Global "carbon neutrality" strategy: Governments are promoting the energy transition, and the electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage system (ESS) markets are growing exponentially, leading to a massive expansion of lithium battery production capacity.

• Battery technology iteration: The development towards higher energy density and faster charging speed (such as 4680 large cylindrical batteries and fast charging technology) has put forward almost strict requirements for the coating uniformity and slitting accuracy of the pole pieces.

• Cost pressure: Reducing costs and increasing efficiency is an eternal theme in the industry, requiring slitting machines to continue to make breakthroughs in improving yield rates, reducing material losses (such as pole foils), and improving production efficiency (speed, order change time).

2. Specific Applications and Opportunities of Slitting Machines:

• Electrode plate slitting (lug forming): This is the core application of the slitting machine. The opportunity lies in:

◦ Ultra-high precision cutting: The burrs of the pole pieces (anode/cathode) require a move from the current μm level to a smaller μm level, or even "zero burr", to avoid short circuits inside the battery. Laser slitting technology is gradually replacing traditional mechanical blades due to its non-contact, stress-free and high precision characteristics, becoming the standard configuration of high-end battery production, and has huge market potential.

◦ Online inspection and intelligent control: Integrated AI vision system to detect burrs, dimensional defects, exposed foil, etc. in real time, and realize closed-loop control, automatically adjust tool spacing and pressure, and greatly improve the yield rate.

◦ Efficiency and stability: The slitting speed needs to match the high speed of the front coating roller pressure (linear speed ≥ 100m/min), and requires continuous production 24/7, which requires extremely high equipment reliability.

• Septum slitting:

◦ Micron-scale non-destructive slitting: The separator is only a few μm thick and very fragile. The slitting process must be dust-free, tear-free, and thermal damage-free. Ultrasonic slitting and other technologies have broad application prospects in this field due to their low temperature and chipless characteristics.

◦ Tension precision control: The expansion and contraction deformation of the separator is extremely sensitive to tension, so the slitting machine needs to have an ultra-precise tension control system to ensure the width consistency and roll flatness of the separator after slitting.

3. Market Outlook:

The global lithium battery equipment market is huge, and slitting machines, as a key part, will simultaneously enjoy the high growth dividends of the industry. It is expected that in the next five years, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of high-end laser slitting machines and ultrasonic slitting machines will be significantly higher than the industry average.

3. Development opportunities in the field of flexible display

The maturity and popularization of flexible OLED display technology have brought another high-growth market with high added value to slitting machines.

1. ปัจจัยขับเคลื่อนตลาด:

• Consumer electronics upgrades: The penetration of folding screen mobile phones, curly screen TVs, wearable devices and other products is accelerating, and the demand for flexible OLED panels continues to rise.

• Material innovation: The application of new flexible cover materials such as CPI (transparent polyimide) and UTG (ultra-thin flexible glass) has posed new challenges to the slitting process.

• Large-size trend: The demand for large-size panels such as TVs requires wider materials and higher accuracy consistency across the full width of slitting.

2. Specific Applications and Opportunities of Slitting Machines:

• Optical film slitting: such as polarizer, brightening film (BEF), diffusion film, cover film, etc. These materials are expensive and highly scratchable and generate static electricity.

◦ Dust-free and clean slitting: It must be carried out in a high-level clean environment, and the slitting machine itself must have a dust-proof design and an ionic air antistatic system.

◦ Zero scratch technology: Non-contact technologies such as air floating guide rollers and magnetic levitation tension control are used to ensure that the surface of the membrane is free from any physical contact and damage during the entire slitting process.

◦ High-precision Correction (EPC): Ensuring alignment accuracy when compounding multi-layer films is key to improving the yield of display panels.

• Flexible substrate slitting (PI, etc.):

◦ Heterogeneous precision slitting: Contour slitting for specific forms of flexible circuit boards (FPCs) or display panels requires a highly dynamically responsive motion control system.

◦ Stress-free slitting: avoid warping or deformation of the substrate due to internal stresses generated during the slitting process.

3. Market Outlook:

The flexible display industry is in a period of rapid growth, and the production capacity of Chinese panel manufacturers (such as BOE, Huaxing Optoelectronics, etc.) continues to expand, and the demand for import substitution of high-end film slitting equipment is strong, providing a broad market space for domestic slitting machine enterprises with technical strength.

4. Future development trends and technical challenges

1. Technology integration: "laser technology + slitting machine", "ultrasonic technology + slitting machine", and "AI machine vision + slitting machine" will become the standard evolution path. Intelligence and unmanned are the ultimate goals.

2. Integrated solution: From a single slitting machine equipment to providing fully automatic production line solutions including unwinding, dust removal, quality inspection, slitting, winding, and packaging, improving customer stickiness and single order value.

3. Core Technical Challenges:

◦ Ultimate accuracy and stability: How to maintain μm-level cutting accuracy and winding quality for a long time.

◦ Defect detection and big data analysis: How to use the massive data generated during the slitting process to predict tool life, optimize process parameters, and achieve predictive maintenance through AI algorithms.

◦ Adaptability to new materials: For example, to meet the slitting challenges of new materials such as solid-state battery electrodes and silicon-carbon anodes.

4. Green manufacturing: More attention will be paid to the energy consumption and noise control of the equipment itself, as well as the recycling of cutting waste.

5. Conclusions and suggestions

บทสรุป:

Slitting machines play an indispensable key role in the two golden tracks of new energy and flexible displays. The explosive demand and technology iteration of downstream industries are strongly driving the rapid development of high-end slitting machine technology in the direction of ultra-high precision, non-destructive processing, and intelligent interconnection, and the market opportunities are unprecedentedly huge.

Suggestion:

For slitting machine manufacturers, it should:

1. Adhere to high-intensity R&D investment: focus on new cutting technologies such as laser and ultrasonic, and break through the bottleneck of localization of core components (such as high-precision correction systems and tension control systems).

2. Deepen industry understanding and customization capabilities: Deeply understand the process pain points of battery factories and panel factories, and provide customized solutions for specific materials and application scenarios, rather than standardized products.

3. Build software and data capabilities: Vigorously develop the Internet of Things (IoT) platform and manufacturing execution system (MES) docking capabilities, so that the slitting machine becomes the data node and decision-making unit of the smart factory.

4. Layout of global market and service network: Accompany Chinese new energy and display companies to go overseas, provide timely global installation, commissioning and maintenance services to establish brand reputation.

For downstream users (battery factories, panel factories), they should:

The slitting process is regarded as the core link of quality control, and we choose to establish strategic cooperative relationships with leading equipment suppliers to jointly develop and develop to maintain process leadership.