Thermal characteristics of a flame-retardant composite phase change material for battery thermal management

The performance of lithium-ion batteries is significantly affected by self-temperature. In order to ensure the safety and efficiency of batteries of Electric vehicles (EVs), battery thermal management technology is essential. This paper used sodium acetate trihydrate as the matrix to prepare a flame-retardant inorganic composite phase change material (PCM) with a thermal conductivity of 4.27 W/(m·K) and a latent heat value of 154.5 J/g. By adding a soft polyurethane coating to the PCM surface, the material's cycle stability was greatly improved. In battery thermal management experiments at different ambient temperatures, PCM effectively dispersed and conducted the heat generated by lithium-ion batteries. Even when discharging at a 4 C rate at an ambient temperature of 40 °C, the maximum temperature of the battery was controlled at 46.8 °C. This flame-retardant inorganic phase change material had considerable application potential in battery thermal management systems of EVs.