Journal of Power Sources, 48 (1994) 257-268 257 zyxwvut Aspects of lead/acid battery manufacture and performance L.T. Lam CSIRO, Division of Mineml Products, P.O. Box 124, Port Melbourne, Kc. 3207 (Australia) I.G. Mawston Yuasa JRA Batteries Limited, Bax 13-343, Onehunga, Auckland (New Zealand) D. Pavlov Centml L.abomtoty of Electm&emical Power Sources, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia Ill3 (Bulgaria) D.A.J. Rand CSIRO, Division of Mineral Prods, P.O. Box 124, Port Melbourne, Kc. 3207 (Australia) zyxwvutsrqp Abstract In keeping with previous Asian Battery Conferences, the meeting closed with an expert panel of battery scientists and technologists answering questions put by the delegates. The subjects under consideration were: Lcady aride production: choice of process; effect on paste mixing and plate curing. Paste mixing: temperature control; red-lead addition; paste degradation; expander addition. Plate curing: hydrocerussite formation; effect of oxide variety; tetrabasic lead sulfate. Plate formation: soaking time; acid sp. gr.; difficulties with negative plates. Battery pe$onnance: influence of depth-of-discharge; problems with perchloric acid; the memory effect; magic potions. Leady oxide production Question: Ball-mill oxide is reported to have finer particle size, a higher acid absorption value and similar output per hour, and to produce battery plates with higher capacity. Why, then, would a battery plant install a Barton-pot? Is there a drop-off in cycle life or some other adverse aspect of pet$ormance with ball-mill oxide? D.A.J. RAND Three of the four features of ball-mill oxide as stated in the question are correct, namely: (i) the oxide particles of ball-mill oxide are much smaller than those produced by a Barton-pot, i.e., 2-3 versus 0.8-1.0 mz g-‘; (ii) by virtue of (i), ball-mill oxide is the more reactive of the two varieties; typical acid absorption values for ball-mill and Barton-pot oxides are 220-240 and 140- 180 mg H2S04 per g oxide, respectively; (iii) a ball mill gives a lower output per unit space than a Barton pot (i.e., it has a larger footprint); (iv) ball-mill oxide enhances the initial discharge capacity of pasted plates. 0378-7753l94LW7.00 8 1994 Elsevier Sequoia. All rights reserved SSDI 0378-7753(93)01872-F