Experimental study on the inhibition effect of water mist containing additives on the thermal runaway of lithium battery

Abstract

The water mist (WM) is currently an important environmentally friendly fire extinguishing agent, offering a distinct advantage in efficiently cooling and inhibiting the thermal runaway (TR) behavior of lithium battery (LIB). Numerous studies have explored the additives of WM to extinguish LIB fires more efficiently. However, the inhibition mechanism of WM containing additives on TR of LIB has not been revealed clearly, and the principle of adding additives remains to be further studied. In this study, three types of non-ionic surfactants are examined and their effects on the maximum temperature during TR and the cooling time of WM are compared. The results indicate that foam induced by the additives has certain advantages in mitigating LIB TR. Further the defoamer is used to modify the foaming performance of the additive solution, and it is found that an appropriate increase in the brittleness of the foam can greatly decrease the highest temperature of the battery during TR moment. These findings can serve as a valuable reference for future applications of WM with additives in the design of battery fire suppression systems.