Comparative Study of Thermal Runaway Propagation and Material Barrier Effect of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Battery thermal runaway (TR) is usually accompanied by a large amount of heat release, as well as a jet of flame. This not only causes harm to the surrounding environment but even exacerbates thermal runaway propagation (TRP). At this stage, many types of materials are used to suppress TRP, and people tend to focus on improving one characteristic of the material while ignoring other properties of the material. This may leave potential pitfalls for TRP suppression, suggesting the need to study multiple properties of multiple materials. In order to better weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different types of materials when suppressing TRP, we compared three typical materials for suppressing TRP behavior in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). These materials are phase change materials (PCM), ceramic fibers, and glass fibers. They are all available in two different thicknesses, 2 mm and 3 mm. The experiments started with a comparative analysis of the TR experimental phenomena in the presence of the different materials. Then, the temperature and mass loss of the battery module during TR were analyzed separately and comparatively. The 3 mm glass fiber showed the best inhibition effect, which extended the TR interval between cells 1 and 2 to 894 s and successfully inhibited the TR of cell 3. Compared with the blank group, the total mass loss decreased from 194.3 g to 182.2 g, which is a 6.2% reduction. Subsequently, we comprehensively analyzed the performance of the three materials in suppressing TRP by combining their suppressing mechanisms. The experimental results show that glass fiber has the best effect in suppressing TRP due to its excellent thermal insulation and mechanical properties. This study may provide new insights into how to trade-off material properties for TRP suppression in the future.