Chemical Thermal Runaway Modeling of Lithium‐Ion Batteries for Prediction of Heat and Gas Generation

Along with the increased usage of lithium‐ion batteries and their development in energy densities, safety issues arise that have to be investigated. The most serious battery safety event is called thermal runaway. Herein, a chemical thermal runaway model with ten decomposition reactions is developed. It is coupled with thermal simulations in order to predict temperature curves as well as amount and composition of released gases during thermal runaway. Simulations are validated by thermal abuse experiments in an autoclave. Detailed temperature measurements and gas analysis are included. Simulations and experimental results prove to be in good agreement. The model is further applied to investigate thermal runaway behavior of cells with different energy densities.