Treatment of conductive feedthroughs for battery packaging

A method of forming a seal around a flat lead of a polymeric battery cell contained within a flexible laminate package, comprising the steps of:

• chemically cleaning a surface of a flat, planar lead that extends from a polymeric battery cell;
• applying strips of a first polymeric material to an upper surface and a lower surface of said flat, planar lead;
• applying sufficient heat to soften said first polymeric material and pressure at a first level sufficient to cause said softened first polymeric material to encase said flat, planar lead;
• positioning said lead between two flexible laminate sheets, said laminate sheets each having a layer of a second polymeric material, said sheet positioned to engage each other with said lead disposed between said layers of said second polymeric material;
• and
• applying sufficient heat to soften said second polymeric material of said laminate and applying pressure at a second level less than said first level to cause said second polymeric material to flow into contact with said first polymeric material and form a seal therewith.

A method of forming a seal about a flat lead extending from a polymeric battery cell having a flexible laminate package, comprising the steps of:

• chemically cleaning an exterior surface of a flat, planar lead of a polymeric electrolytic cell;
• surrounding said exterior surface of said lead with a layer of a first polymeric material, said layer of first polymeric material having a thickness about equal to a thickness of said lead;
• applying sufficient heat and pressure to cause said first polymeric material to soften and flow onto said exterior surface;
• positioning said lead between two flexible laminate sheets, said laminate sheets each having an exposed layer of a second polymeric material, said laminate sheets positioned to engage each other with said lead disposed between said layers of said second polymeric material;
• and
• applying sufficient heat and pressure to said laminate sheets in the vicinity of said lead to cause said first polymeric material and said second polymeric material to soften and flow into engagement with each other.