Recently, Covestro launched a new generation of high-performance flame-retardant PC/ABS alloy (Bayblend® FR3045 EV). With its excellent thin-wall flame retardant performance and impact resistance, it can protect the light and thin design and high safety of battery modules.
Why is flame retardant PC/ABS alloy material suitable for battery manufacturing? It turns out that with the continuous upgrade of green travel, cylindrical batteries are favored by customers with their own advantages, and 18650, 21700, 26650 and other models are even more popular "players". However, in order to solve the layout problem of thousands of batteries in a battery pack, the choice of materials is particularly important.
Thin wall flame retardant performance Under the two major backgrounds of battery pack energy density and safety, the cylindrical cell support/frame gradually becomes thin walled and meets the designer's "stealing meat" requirements. It reaches UL94 V-0 flame retardant at the thin wall Graduation has gradually become the industry benchmark.
Ultraviolet (UV) transmittance Compared with other curing methods (such as thermal curing), UV curing is fast and efficient, which can reduce industrial production costs. At the same time, only very little heat is produced during production and processing, reducing the impact on the life of the battery cell. The higher UV transmittance of the bracket/frame material can help manufacturers save energy and improve curing efficiency.
Dimensional stability Cylindrical cells have strict requirements on the dimensional stability of the bracket. The change in the size of the bracket easily causes complicated internal stress between the cells, which not only causes warpage and deformation, but also poses a risk to the safe operation of the cells. For changes in temperature or humidity, the bracket should maintain dimensional stability.
Impact strength In the trend of lightweight and thin-walled cylindrical cell support/frame design, the mechanical properties of the material, especially the impact strength, are particularly critical. This helps reduce the risk of failure of the cell support/frame or even many cells during vibration. Without excellent impact resistance, the designer will be fearful and difficult to achieve fruitful innovation.
In terms of fluidity and long-term use temperature (Relative Temperature Index, RTI), the new generation of PC/ABS alloys still perform well. The fluidity needs to meet the needs of thin-walled and complex shapes; at the same time, based on the safety test specifications of automotive lithium-ion batteries (hot and cold cycling, wet and hot aging, etc.), the RTI of the bracket/frame material generally requires not less than 80˚C . Because of this, the flame-retardant PC/ABS material stands out with its high performance matching degree and reasonable price, and has become the mainstream material of the cylindrical cell support/frame.