Editorial Technical Reference

Web tension control system (front and back tension around the nip of a battery electrode calender)

Web tension control around a battery electrode calender · front and back tension either side of the nip, why the difference matters more than the level, corrugations in the coating against wrinkles in the uncoated foil, tension units set apart from winder tension, and deflection rollers after the nip

A calender presses coated foil to density between two rolls, and the foil stretches unevenly: the coated band lengthens, the bare edges do not. The tension held in front of and behind the nip decides whether the coating stays flat and whether the uncoated edges wrinkle or tear. Specify where tension is measured and set (unwind, tension unit before the nip, rewind), how the front and back tensions are controlled relative to each other, and how wrinkles will be checked.

Web tension control around battery electrode calenders: front and back tension at the nip, tension units, dancers and load cells, and their effect on corrugations and wrinkles. The calender itself (roll size, line load, gap, temperature) is covered on the Battery electrode calendering machine page; tension on slitting and rewinding on the Tension control system for lithium-ion battery electrode slitting and rewinding page; generic tension control on the Web tension control: follow the force and the feedback page; electrode thickness sensors on the Thickness measurement sensors (battery electrodes) page.

CNFX editorial research · Sources checked October 12, 2026 · 2 sources

Front and back tension Wrinkles after the nip

Dark coated web running over a pivoting dancer arm with a pneumatic cylinder and idler rollers into a stack of polished calender rolls, with a servo motor and guide rails in the foreground — Dancer arm and rollers feeding a dark web into calender rolls

Start with your task

Front and back tensionDifference, not level. Wrinkles after the nipDeflection rollers, strain.

Front and back tension: the difference matters

Zejun Fu, Zhutian Xu, Linfa Peng (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and Mingwang Fu (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) report that corrugations in the coated area and wrinkles in the uncoated area "were revealed to be more dependent on the difference between the front and back tensions rather than the magnitude of the tensions". Corrugation tortuosity fell by 34.2% at a tension difference of 20 N against 5 N, but a larger difference raised the shear displacement roughly linearly, "causing severe wrinkles in the uncoated area"; their optimum was "a tension difference of 17 N". [1]

They also note the trade-off at higher tension: high web tensions reduce corrugations in the coating but lead to severe wrinkles at the uncoated edge, and "the increase of tension leads to easier tearing of the ultra-thin foils", with frequent failures on lines running up to 100 m/min. [1]

Ask the supplier to show how front and back tension are set and held independently, and to what resolution in N, so the difference can be tuned on your electrode.

Wrinkles after the nip and where tension is set

Ann-Kathrin Wurba, Lennart Altmann and Jürgen Fleischer at KIT studied the longitudinal wrinkle "that occurs during calendering when a calendered web passes over a deflection roller under high web tension". On their Saueressig GKL 500 MS calender, web tension "is adjusted individually via the unwinder, rewinder and the tension unit and varies between 1 N and 250 N"; the tension unit after the nip "can be set independently of the web tension at the winder and unwinder", which ran at 60 N at 1 m/min. [2]

Their NMC811 cathode had a 155 mm coating with 30 mm uncoated on each side. Higher density produced higher strains in the coated part, and they found the relation between process parameters and longitudinal wrinkling "complex", leading them to develop an additional device to reduce wrinkles independently of process settings. [2]

Study	Tension set-up	Finding	Source
Fu et al. (SJTU / PolyU)	Front and back tension around the nip	Difference governs corrugations and edge wrinkles; optimum 17 N difference	[1]
Wurba et al. (KIT)	Unwinder, tension unit, rewinder set separately (1-250 N)	Longitudinal wrinkles over a deflection roller under high tension; density raises strain	[2]

State coating width, uncoated edge width, foil thickness, target density and line speed, and ask for wrinkle and tear trials on your electrode at the proposed tensions.

Calender tension control details

Paste it into your enquiry below or into an email to a maker, then replace every bracket.

Electrode: [foil; thickness; coating width; uncoated edges]
Calender: [line load; speed; roll temperature]
Tension zones: [unwind; before nip; after nip; rewind]
Control: [load cell; dancer; independent setpoints; resolution]
Range: [N per zone]
Checks: [corrugation; edge wrinkles; tearing]

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Calender tension control sources

Manufacturer profiles associated with Web Tension Control System.

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Compiled and source-reviewed by the CNFX editorial team. Each manufacturer above links to the page on that company's own website where the product is listed, with the date we checked it. How we source and review · Page last updated 13 October 2026

Buyer questions

Is higher tension better for flat electrodes?

Fu et al. found higher tension reduces coating corrugations but causes severe edge wrinkles and foil tearing; the front-back difference mattered more. [1]

What tension difference did the study find best?

A front-back tension difference of 17 N in their tests. [1]

Where do longitudinal wrinkles form?

KIT observed them when the calendered web passes over a deflection roller under high web tension. [2]

Should tension zones be independent?

KIT's calender set unwinder, tension unit and rewinder tensions separately, between 1 and 250 N. [2]

Sources and what still needs a direct check

Sources checked 2026-10-12. Fu, Xu, Peng and Fu's paper is in Materials and Manufacturing Processes (accepted manuscript in the PolyU repository); Wurba, Altmann and Fleischer's paper is in Production Engineering (KIT repository).

Still to check yourself

Map tension zones.
Set front-back difference control.
Trial wrinkles and tearing.
Check deflection roller tension.
Match to line speed.
Verify the legal supplier and factory.

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