After Explosion - Battery Degradation Analysis using DSC and SEM

Abstract

Thermal management of the battery is essential for effective utilization in various environmental conditions and for long-term usage. Failure to control and monitoring of battery over-heating leads to thermal runaway, which can cause battery explosion. This paper emphasizes the overheating phenomena of lead-acid batteries in simulated heat situations. Heat is applied to the battery until it gets damaged. After the thermal damage occured, various characterization methods were performed to analyze the thermal influence on the anode and cathode plates. The characterization methods include Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The DSC method is used to determine the change in glass transition temperature of anode and cathode materials, which can provide information on the material's thermal behavior at different temperatures. Likewise, SEM is used to investigate the structural morphology of anode and cathode plates. The experimental results indicate that material degradation occurs across different temperature ranges for both the anode and cathode plates. In particular, the plate's thermal influence varies at different positions, which leads to changes in plate conduction. Additionally, thermography and heat distribution images are used to identify the heat flow in the battery during the cycle period.