Mitigation effects on thermal runaway propagation of structure-enhanced phase change material modules with flame retardant additives

Abstract Majority existing organic composite phase change materials (CPCMs) are flammable that result in thermal hazards such as fire and explosions in battery modules. Furthermore, the performance of PCM-based battery modules in extreme conditions like thermal runaway has not been studied adequately. In this study, a tubular CPCM-cell structure is designed using physically flame-retardant-modified CPCMs, and a series of experiments on the CPCMs with/without real cells is conducted with calorimeter tests and SEM analysis on morphology structure. First, the calorimeter tests and comparison on the heat release rate (HRR) are conducted on the CPCMs with and without flame retardant additives. Results show that the addition of Al(OH)3 reduced the HRR from 242.5 to 204.4 kW/m2 with 15 wt% additives. Besides, the analysis of the mitigating performances of structure-enhanced tubular module and traditional cuboid module with real batteries is conducted. A factor of safety (FOS) parameter is defined to evaluate the safety degree of thermal runaway domino with energy density. The FOS of blank, CPCM–0C, and CPCM–15C modules are 0, 3.59, and 16.67, respectively, while that of CPCM-15T reaches 21.01, indicating a significant improvement on mitigating effects by structure enhancement compared to adding flame retardant additives. This study brings novelty in the design of PCM-based battery modules, particularly from the thermal safety prospect.