Constitutive Behavior and Mechanical Failure of Internal Configuration in Prismatic Lithium-Ion Batteries under Mechanical Loading

Zhijie Li, Jiqing Chen, Fengchong Lan and Yigang Li
Additional contact information
Zhijie Li: School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Jiqing Chen: School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Fengchong Lan: School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Yigang Li: School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-22

Abstract: Internal short circuits and thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are mainly caused by deformation-induced failures in their internal components. Understanding the mechanisms of mechanical failure in the internal materials is of much importance for the design of LIB pack safety. In this work, the constitutive behaviors and deformation-induced failures of these component materials were tested and simulated. The stress-strain constitutive models of the anode/cathode and the separator under uniaxial tensile and compressive loads were proposed, and maximum tensile strain failure criteria were used to simulate the failure behaviors on these materials under the biaxial indentations. In order to understand the deformation failure mechanisms of ultrathin and multilayer materials within the prismatic cell, a mesoscale layer element model (LEM) with a separator-cathode-separator-anode structure was constructed. The deformation failure of LEM under spherical punches of different sizes was analyzed in detail, and the results were experimentally verified. Furthermore, the n-layer LEM stacked structure numerical model was constructed to calculate the progressive failure mechanisms of cathodes and anodes under punches. The results of test and simulation show the fracture failure of the cathodes under local indentation will trigger the failure of adjacent layers successively, and the internal short circuits are ultimately caused by separator failure owing to fractures and slips in the electrodes. The results improve the understanding of the failure behavior of the component materials in prismatic lithium-ion batteries, and provide some safety suggestions for the battery structure design in the future.

Keywords: lithium-ion batteries; component materials; constitutive behaviors; failure mechanisms; layer element model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1219/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1219/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:1219-:d:504701

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().