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Battery Failure Analysis and Characterization of Failure Types 2021


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Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants, Inc.
Battery Failure Analysis and Characterization of Failure Types
By Sean Berg October 8, 2021
Renewable and sustainable forms of energy have seen a steady increase in share of overall electric power generation and use over the past 10 years driven primarily by concerns of climate change, as well as oil price uncertainty and resource availability. The intermittency problem of some of these energy types has been largely offset, but not entirely solved, by the use of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Specifically, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which have been the most common type of battery used in BESS, offer many advantages including smaller size, power density, and energy density to name a few. The price per kWh of Li-ion batteries has also seen a sharp decrease over the past 10 years, which has contributed to making energy costs for these renewables more affordable, and continued technologic advancements have improved Li-ion battery performance. These batteries are a versatile and highly scalable energy storage medium that can take on many shapes and chemistries, enabling their use in a variety of applications. However, like any other technology, Li-ion batteries can and do fail. It is important to understand battery failures and failure mechanisms, and how they are caused or can be triggered. This article discusses common types of Li-ion battery failure with a greater focus on thermal runaway, which is a particularly dangerous and hazardous failure mode. Forensic methods and techniques that can be used to characterize battery failures will also be discussed.
Battery cells can fail in several ways resulting from abusive operation, physical damage, or cell design, material, or manufacturing defects to name a few. Li-ion batteries deteriorate over time from charge/discharge cycling, resulting in a drop in the cell’s ability to hold a charge. For Li-ion batteries, when the cell’s capacity drops below a certain percentage of its nominal capacity, i.e., generally 80% but can be as low as 60%, the battery will fail to operate. Charging and discharging a cell at too high of a C rate, which is measurement of current supplied by or to the battery during charge and discharge, e.g., a battery with a rated capacity of 1,000 mAh discharged at 1C can supply 1 Amp for 1 hr, can shorten the life of the battery and may result in other failure mechanisms. Physical damage from an impact or drop can result in internal damage to the cell. Electrolyte vapor production and leak out of the jellyroll may lead to swelling. A cell that is improperly sealed or that is susceptible to a loss of sealing can result in the electrolyte leaking out, and potential interior exposure to external oxygen. This may result in an explosion if the battery has any level of charge since a lithiated carbon anode is highly reactive to atmosphere. Some combination of these conditions, including abusive operating conditions, can result in a thermal runaway failure. This article focuses on the causes related to thermal runaway failures.
Thermal runaway is a dangerous type of failure that can result in an explosion and fire. In larger scale Li- ion BESS, this failure can be cascading and catastrophic, since thermal runaway is heat driven. One cell failing in this manner can quickly cause the heat of the resulting fire to spread to other surrounding cells and trigger the same failure. The results can pose a serious threat not only to property, but also poses a
This article is an introduction to lithium-ion battery types, types of failures, and the forensic methods and techniques used to investigate origin and cause to identify failure mechanisms. This is the first article in a
six-part series. To read other articles in this series, click here.
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