Patent ID: 7544384

Claim:
A method of making a cathode for a primary lithium battery comprising: step A: pulling an expanded metal grid including aluminum and having an initial tensile strength and an array of diamond-shaped openings, each opening having a long dimension and a short dimension, and each opening defined by four elongated boundary elements, each boundary element having a length and the pulling being along a direction other than along the length of any of the elements, the pulling providing a pulled expanded metal grid having an increase in the short dimension of the openings and an increase in the tensile strength to greater than 5 lb/in; step B: leveling the pulled expanded metal grid by passing the pulled expanded metal grid between rollers, and step C: coating the pulled expanded metal grid with a composition including a cathode active material to provide a coated and pulled expanded metal grid, wherein leveling is conducted before coating and in a separate step before step C.