Battery giant LG Chem has developed a flame-retardant engineering plastic that could delay or even prevent disastrous thermal runaway events in lithium-ion battery packs.
Used as a casing material, the plastic’s heat resistant qualities could delay thermal runaway moving to neighbouring cells of electric vehicle batteries for nearly seven minutes.
The flame retardant material consists of various material groups including polyphenylene oxide (PPO), polyamide (PA), and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).
The material also has a superb dimensional stability that allows it to maintain its shape despite temperature changes, according to LG Chem.
The South Korean firm says its in-house test results show the material can block flame propagation caused by thermal runaway for more than 400 seconds in 1,000 degrees heat .
LG Chem says it has completed building a system to mass-produce the material and plans to initiate its full-scale production next year in accordance with the customer’s schedule.
The firm is filing patents for the material in Korea, US, and Europe.
Thermal runaway, caused by shorting of the cell because of overvoltage and overdischarge— for example, can cause the battery’s internal temperature to rise.
Based on the pack cover supply, the company plans to expand its application of material on vehicles as well as in various industries.
Steven Kim, senior vice president/division leader of engineering materials division advanced materials, said the company had been working on the material for more than a decade.
