Preparation and characterization of anode foil for aluminum electrolytic capacitors by powder additive manufacturing

In this paper, anode foils for aluminum electrolytic capacitors were successfully prepared using additive manufacturing technology. The effects of sintering temperature and particle size the anode foil were investigated. The results indicated that the sintering neck and particle size were the key factors to determine the electrical properties of the prepared powder foil. As the sintering temperature increased, both the porosity and the pore diameter of the anode foil decreased and the sintering neck increased, resulting in a decline of specific capacitance, while the dissipation factor did not change significantly. As the particle size of aluminum powder increased, the porosity, the pore diameter and the sintering neck of the anode foil increased. The specific capacitance of the anode foil first increased and then decreased, while the dissipation factor showed a gradual decrease. The anodic foil sintered at 630 degrees C and prepared with aluminum powder of 5- 6 mu m had the best electrical performance.