Dan Fleming, III

Dr. Fleming, professor, joined the Department of Chemical and Paper Engineering in 1996. He teaches courses in the graphic and printing science, chemical and paper engineering programs.

Dr. Fleming brings to Western over 22 years of industrial and almost 25 years academic experience. Prior to joining the faculty at Western Michigan University, Dr. Fleming was group leader in engineering design and analysis at the GenCorp Technology Center in Akron, Ohio. Previously, he held the position of Senior Research Specialist at Phillips Petroleum Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He has held postdoctoral research associate positions in chemistry at Brown University and Columbia University. Dr. Fleming has over 350 publications and presentations to his credit and three U.S. patents.

Dr. Fleming has been involved with configuring and managing multiplatform computer networks. He has managed groups of industrial researchers and advised undergraduate and graduate students in academia. He has been involved in multidisciplinary research and consulting in industry and academia. His current research interests are surface chemistry, printed electronics, 3D printing, color management, paper coatings and whiteness measures. He is currently a co-director of the Center for Ink and Printability.

Rotogravure Printing of Li Ion Battery Anodes

Kevin Mathew, Alexandra Pekarovicova, and Paul D. Fleming, III, Western Michigan University

Rotogravure inks were formulated for Li-ion battery anodes. Different polymer chemistries were tested such as polyvinylidene fluoride  (PVDF ) with degree of polymerization of 1*106. It was found that the best printability can be achieved using mixed PVDF-PVP (polyvinylidene fluoride – polyvinylpyrrolidone) binders with commercial names of PVDF being Kureha 9100, 9300, and Solef 5300. As active materials, Philips 5, 10, 15 graphites (5 -15 micron) in combination with nanocarbon filler were used. Inks were dispersed in NMP (N-methyl-pyrrolidone) solvent. The particle size of graphite for most uniform printing was found to be 5 microns. Surface energy of copper foil substrate and surface tension of inks were determined. Printed copper foils were assembled into battery half cells and their irreversible capacity loss was tested.