damage and penetration

Lithium-ion Battery Fires 4 – Damage and Penetration

by with One Comment Lithium-ion Battery Fires

Spreading knowledge and knowing about the dangers of Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is important as they are a growing danger in the modern home and in modern life in general. Whether the battery has damage or penetration is important to think about as this creates a large amount danger. They are seen as a horrible danger with a spontaneous nature, e-bikes and e-scooters have been banned from all London transport systems after a number of fires on the network caused by these vehicles.

Damage and Penetration to Li-ion Batteries

Li-ion battery fires can sometimes occur after disposal of the batteries themselves. These are due to when the battery is penetrated or crushed. These scenarios are a danger when disposing of and maybe even still at the end of the life of one of these batteries. This comes from when potent electrolytes leak through the hole in the battery, this then often creates a chemical reaction that releases heat. This then in-turn heats the other cells in the battery and can lead to thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is when a cell of the Li-ion battery enters a self heating uncontrollable stage which leads to the explosion and then fire.

Disposal of Li-ion Batteries

This is a huge danger when disposing these batteries, on a domestic scale officials recommend placing and leaving the batteries into salt water for at least two weeks then disposing them as hazardous waste. If one of these batteries were to get to landfill and get damaged this could lead to thermal runaway and then could cause an absolutely huge fire damaging the whole site by engulfing it into flames. So when disposing and dealing with damaged Li-ion batteries please take great care.

Check out our last iteration of Lithium-ion battery firesย here.

damage and penetration

damage and penetration

Li-ion battery fire 3 resized

Lithium-ion Battery Fires 3 – Overheating

by with No Comment Lithium-ion Battery Fires

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery fires usually have a cause, even if what the user has done has been done loads of times before. Li-ion battery fires are still uncommon but they do have factors that can increase the likelihood of one starting. We touched upon overcharging in the last iteration but another factor is whether the battery is overheating.

Overheating

Overheating can be caused by many different things such as blocked ventilation or over exposure to direct heat such as the sun. In most overheating due to being in the direct sun for too long comes in the form of li-ion battery fires in electric cars. These fires are usually very dangerous as obviously there are many things that are flammable inside of cars and when a li-ion fire occurs in an electric car they quickly ball up in flames as the battery itself is spread along the whole of the bottom of the car. Some cases for this have been involved with Teslas that have gone up in flames and some have been caused by this overheating but some coming from other sources that we will touch upon in a later iteration.

Another common reason for fires caused by overheating is leaving products such as phones charging under things like pillows or blankets where ventilation is poor. These fires are dangerous as they are likely in or under a carbonaceous item that is very flammable and would allow the fire to spread with ease.

Check out our last iteration of Lithium-ion battery firesย here.

lithium-ion batteries overcharging

Lithium-ion Battery Fires 2 – Overcharging

by with No Comment Lithium-ion Battery Fires

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere as shown by the last iteration of Lithium-ion battery fires. But what makes them so dangerous and what causes them to start fires? Most lithium-ion batteries are safe and will never start a fire with safe and sensible usage, but sometimes they are used with not enough care for what a danger they could be. When the batteries are consistently left overcharging, the risk starts to rise.

Overcharging

One of the causes of lithium-ion battery fires is when people are overcharging the batteries. This is when the battery is constantly being charged all the time for extensive periods of time. The biggest culprit for this is people such as phone users who leave their phone charging overnight, every night so eventually overtime the battery is worn and worn until just one time it could explode and burst into flames. This is also a growing problem with e-bikes and e-scooters as they are another common item that is left to charge for extended periods of time.

How to stay safe

Lithium-ion batteries’ optimal window of charge is 30-70% and maybe 20-80% for some other products. If a battery is kept in this window at all times, the wear on the battery will stay minimal for a long time, therefore leading to longer lives of batteries and less chance of starting a fire.

Check out our last iteration of Lithium-ion battery firesย here.

Lithium-ion batteries overcharging is one of the greatest risks.

lithium-ion battery

Lithium-ion Battery Fires 1

by with No Comment Lithium-ion Battery Fires

The first Lithium-ion battery was invented in 1982, and are different from the standard lithium battery. Lithium batteries are the standard non-rechargeable batteries and are very safe however, lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable and this leads to their problems. As they are rechargeable they store lots of energy relative to their size. And this is another of their problems, as they are so small, they are very accessible and useful for all different rechargeable products of all different shapes and sizes.

Development of the Lithium-ion Battery

As the technology has developed the lithium-ion battery has been able to hold more and more energy relative to their size, and this is what has made them more dangerous over the last few years. In the modern household, they can be seen everywhere from our phones, our watches, our earphones and even more recently popular e-bikes and e-scooters which have shown to be the most dangerous in the latest statistics.

Check out our next iteration of Lithium-ion battery fires here. Where we touch upon the dangers of overcharging lithium-ion batteries and what can YOU DO to help stay safe.

To learn more about extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires click here to look into AVD extinguishers.