Modeling of the thermal runaway phenomenon of cylindrical 18650 Li-Ion cells

The thermal runaway (TR) is the main safety concern of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Methods for predicting and preventing TR are critical to achieve greater battery safety. Many researchers have studied the reactions that take place inside the cell and that because of their exothermicity trigger the TR. In this work the coupled electrochemical-thermal model for a lithium-ion cell was extended with contributions from exothermic reactions based on an Arrhenius law to model mechanisms of abuse, which could lead to a thermal runaway. Firstly, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests were conducted on the individual components of the cell to characterize the reactions of the TR process in terms of onset temperature of kinetic parameters. The kinetic parameters of each reaction were identified by the Kissinger method. Then the thermal and kinetics parameters of the reactions occurring during the thermal runaway together with the phenomena involving the electrolyte (i.e., evaporation, boiling and venting) were included in the Battery and Fuel Cell Module of COMSOL Multiphysics simulator, to simulate the behaviour of a cylindrical 18650 cell under thermal abuse conditions. In particular, the results of the model appear to agree with the experimental data, concerning to a NCA 18650 cell subjected to radiative heat flux in a cone calorimeter.