ABSTRACT
The risks and possible accidents related to the normal use of lithium-ion batteries remain a serious concern. In order to get a better understanding of thermal runaway (TR), the exothermic decomposition reactions in anode and cathode were studied, using a Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA)/Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)/Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer system. These techniques allowed the identification of the reaction mechanisms in each electrode, owing to the analysis of evolved gaseous species, the amount of heat released and mass loss. These results provided insight into the thermal events happening within a broader temperature range than covered in previously published models. This allowed the formulation of an improved thermal model to depict TR. The heat of reaction, activation energy, and frequency factor (thermal triplets) for each major exothermic process at material level were investigated in a Lithium Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt-Oxide (NMC (111))-Graphite battery cell. The results were analyzed, and their kinetics were derived. These data can be used to successfully simulate the experimental heat flow.
ABSTRACT
The effect of charging and discharging lithium iron phosphate-graphite cells at different temperatures on their degradation is evaluated systematically. The degradation of the cells is assessed by using 10 charging and discharging temperature permutations ranging from -20 °C to 30 °C. This allows an analysis of the effect of charge and discharge temperatures on aging, and their associations. A total of 100 charge/discharge cycles were carried out. Every 25 cycles a reference cycle was performed to assess the reversible and irreversible capacity degradation. A multi-factor analysis of variance was used, and the experimental results were fitted showing: i) a quadratic relationship between the rate of degradation and the temperature of charge, ii) a linear relationship with the temperature of discharge, and iii) a correlation between the temperature of charge and discharge. It was found that the temperature combination for charging at +30 °C and discharging at -5 °C led to the highest rate of degradation. On the other hand, the cycling in a temperature range from -20 °C to 15 °C (with various combinations of temperatures of charge and discharge), led to a much lower degradation. Additionally, when the temperature of charge is 15 °C, it was found that the degradation rate is nondependent on the temperature of discharge.
Subject(s)
Graphite/chemistry , Iron/chemistry , Lithium/chemistry , Phosphates/chemistry , TemperatureABSTRACT
The detachment of barrel-shaped oil droplets from metal, glass and polymer fibres was examined using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM was used to detach the droplets from the fibres while measuring the force-distance relationship. A novel fibre-droplet interfacial tension model was applied to predict the force required to draw the droplet away from its preferential axisymmetric position on the fibre, and also to predict the maximal force required to detach the droplet. The model assumes that the droplet retains a spherical shape during detachment, i.e., that droplet distortion is negligible. This assumption was found to be reasonably accurate for small radius oil droplets (<10 microm), however less accurate for larger droplets (>25 microm). However, it was found that the model produced a good agreement with the maximal detachment force measured experimentally--regardless of droplet size and degree of deformation--even though the model could not predict droplet extension beyond a length of one droplet radius.
ABSTRACT
The microstructure of carbon-carbon composites obtained by chemical vapor infiltration of a carbon fiber felt was comparatively studied by reflection light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Ar+ ion etching was used to reveal and distinguish structural units of the pyrolytic carbon matrix. Mechanically polished samples, polished and subsequently ion etched samples, and fractured samples were compared. The values of surface roughness and surface height after polishing or after polishing and subsequent etching determined by AFM and LSCM correlate well with the degree of texture of the matrix layers obtained by polarized light microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The carbon matrix is composed of structural units or "cells," which contain a carbon fiber and a sequence of several differently textured layers around each fiber. Within high-textured layers columnar grains are well recognizable using polarized reflection light microscopy and confocal microscopy. The size of depressions within high-textured carbon layers found by AFM after ion etching correlates well with the size of differently tilted domains detected by both TEM and SEM.
