Influence of aging on the heat and gas emissions from commercial lithium ion cells in case of thermal failure

A method for thermal ramp experiments on cylindrical 18650 Li-ion cells has been established. The method was applied on pristine cells as well as on devices aged by cyclisation or by storage at elevated temperature respectively. The tested cells comprise three types of LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 cells for either high power or high energy applications. The heat flux to and from the cell was investigated. Degradation and exothermic breakdown released large amounts of heat and gas. The total gas and heat emission from cycled cells was significantly larger than emission from cells aged by storage. After aging, the low energy cell ICR18650HE4 did not transgress into thermal runaway. Gas composition changed mainly in the early stage of the experiment. The composition of the initial gas release changed from predominantly CO2 towards hydrocarbons. The thermal runaway emitted for all tests a comparable mixture of H2, CO and CO2.