Ola Willstrand
Research Scientist, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Ola Willstrand is a research scientist at the department of Fire and Safety at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. He is focusing on battery safety and has a lot of experience from laboratory fire tests, from small-scale to full-scale. Mr Willstrand holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Physics from Lund University and a Licentiate degree in Material Chemistry from Uppsala University.
Thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries - what should be tested?
Safety is a key feature for Li-ion batteries due to their, sometimes, dramatic failure consequences when thermal runaway occurs. Thermal runaway in Li-ion batteries is associated with rapid heat release rate, large volume of gas production, and violent burning characteristics. The focus of battery safety standards is usually to prevent thermal runaway from happening, meaning that numerous tests are conducted to verify that different kinds of electrical, mechanical, and thermal abuse do not result in thermal runaway. This does not eliminate the need for implementation of appropriate measures to respond to and handle thermal runaway scenarios. However, the characterization of thermal runaway events is not well standardized, leading to employment of various test setups, test scenarios, analysis techniques, and interpretation of results.