State of Charge Dependent Mechanical Integrity Behavior of 18650 Lithium-ion Batteries

Understanding the mechanism of mechanical deformation/stress-induced electrical failure of lithium–ion batteries (LIBs) is important in crash-safety design of power LIBs. The state of charge (SOC) of LIBs is a critical factor in their electrochemical performance; however, the influence of SOC with mechanical integrity of LIBs remains unclear. This study investigates the electrochemical failure behaviors of LIBs with various SOCs under both compression and bending loadings, underpinned by the short circuit phenomenon. Mechanical behaviors of the whole LIB body, which is regarded as an intact structure, were analyzed in terms of structure stiffness. Results showed that the mechanical behaviors of LIBs depend highly on SOC. Experimental verification on the cathode and anode sheet compression tests show that higher SOC with more lithium inserted in the anode leads to higher structure stiffness. In the bending tests, failure strain upon occurrence of short circuit has an inverse linear relationship with the SOC value. These results may shed light on the fundamental physical mechanism of mechanical integrity LIBs in relation to inherent electrochemical status.