Battery Hazards and Accident Prevention

354 Pages·1994·6.61 MB·English

by  Samuel C. Levy

BATTERY HAZARDS
AND ACCIDENT
PREVENTION
BATTERY HAZARDS
AND ACCIDENT
PREVENTION
Samuel C. Levy
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, New Mexico
and
Per Bro
Southwest Electrochemical Company
Santa Fe, New Mexico
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levy, Samuel C.
Battery hazards and accident prevention I Samuel C. Levy and Per
Bro.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4899-1461-3 ISBN 978-1-4899-1459-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1459-0
1. Electric batteries--Safety measures. 2. Electric batteries
-Accidents. I. Bra, P. <Perl II. Title.
TK2941.L43 1994
621.31'242'0289--dc20 94-30814
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4899-1461-3
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1994
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1994
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Preface
This book is about how to avoid the accidents and injuries that may occur
when batteries are abused or mishandled. It is the first book to deal specifically
with this subject in a reasonably comprehensive manner accessible to readers
ranging from regular consumers to technical specialists. Batteries and battery
processes are described in sufficient detail to enable readers to understand
why and how batteries cause accidents and what can be done to prevent them.
Each year in the United States alone, thousands of individuals are injured by
battery accidents, some of which are severely disabling. The tragedy is that
such accidents need not occur.
The book is intended to satisfy the needs of a varied group of readers:
battery users in general, battery engineers, and designers of battery-operated
equipment and consumer electronics. Since the book is a reference source of
information on batteries and battery chemicals, we believe it may also be
useful to those studying the environment as well as to medical personnel
called upon to treat battery injuries. There are no prerequisites for an under
standing of the text other than an interest in batteries and their safe usage.
Nontechnical readers may skip the more technical segments of the book,
such as the chapters of Part II, with no loss of understanding of the essential
characteristics of batteries and their hazards. They may wish to begin with
Chapter 2 and Part V, both of which deal with accidents and accident pre
vention, before dipping into Chapters 1, 7, and 8 for information on batteries
in general and on specific battery systems. If they are using lithium batteries,
Part IV should be considered mandatory reading. Battery engineers will find
that they know some ofthe material in the book already. They may want to
skim lightly over Chapter 1 and Part III and to concentrate their reading on
Parts II, IV, and V. The book should prove useful as a resource on batteries
for designers of battery-operated equipment and consumer electronic devices.
v
vi PREFACE
Designers play an essential role in ensuring the safety of battery-operated
equipment and electronic devices for general consumer use. In order to ac
complish that objective, they need to understand battery processes, the causes
of battery hazards, and the possible effects of electronic and electrical circuitry
on the development of hazardous conditions in batteries. Designers of new
and advanced equipment may find Part IV on lithium batteries of particular
value. It contains essential information on the advanced power sources likely
to power consumer electronic devices of the future. Parts III and IV contain
much of interest to environmentalists. There, we discuss the chemical com
position of batteries and the toxicity of battery materials. We do not discuss
the effects of battery materials on ecosystems, nor the disposal or recycling
of batteries. These topics are treated in considerable detail in existing literature
to which we refer in the text.
We need to say a few words about the different manner in which we have
organized the material on aqueous battery systems and that on nonaqueous
lithium battery systems. Aqueous systems represent an essentially mature
technology, and they have many common features. This enabled us to organize
the existing information within a simply structured framework. Lithium bat
teries, on the other hand, are still in development and display far greater
chemical and physical variations than do aqueous batteries. Some lithium
systems have found important applications, but the majority of them have
yet to make a significant commercial impact. It is too early to say which
among the many systems will become important in the general battery market.
In addition, there is little commonality between the different lithium systems.
We chose, therefore, to discuss each lithium system separately and in some
detail to provide readers with information that may allow them to assess the
relative merits of the various systems from an operational and safety point
of view. Thus, lithium batteries occupy a disproportionate fraction of text
relative to their commercial importance. We think this approach is justified
both by the promise of lithium batteries for future applications and by their
greater hazard potential compared with that of aqueous electrolyte battery
systems.
We benefited greatly from our discussions with friends and colleagues
and by their advice during the preparation of the book. George Schwartz was
very helpful with medical advice, Paul K.rehl provided useful information on
the practical aspects of lithium battery safety, and D. B. Adolf, J. W. Braith
waite, R. G. Buchheit, Jr., S. N. Burchett, W. R. Cieslak, J. M. Freese, and
R. A. Guidotti of the Sandia National Laboratories were all very helpful with
information on material properties relevant to battery safety. We are greatly
indebted to them all and thank them for their contributions.
This work was partially supported by the United States Department of
Energy under contract DE-AC04-94 AL 8500.
Contents
PART I. INTRODUCfiON TO BATTERIES AND SAFETY
1. Batteries and Battery Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Battery Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2. Active Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3. Elementary Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1. Primary Aqueous Electrolyte Cells. . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.2. Primary Lithium Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3.3. Rechargeable Nickel/Cadmium Cells. . . . . . . . . 17
1.3.4. Rechargeable Lead-Acid Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.3.5. Primary Multicell Batteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.3.6. Rechargeable Multicell Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2. The Nature of Battery Hazards and Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1. Battery Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2. Accident Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
PART II. FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF BATTERY SAFETY
3. Battery Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1. Gas Generation in Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1.1. Spontaneous Gas Generation, Internal Drivers 44
3.1.2. Electrical Gas Generation, External Drivers . . . 48
3.1.3. Gas-Generated Cell Pressures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
vii
viii CONTENTS
3.2. Other Internal Leakage Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3. Leakage Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.3.1. Crimp Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.2. Hermetic Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3.3. Corrosion-Induced Leakage Paths . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4. Externally Induced Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5. Leakage Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.5.1. Electrolyte Leakage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.5.2. Gas Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4. Ruptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1. Mechanical Stress and Pressure Tolerance of Cells . . . . . 88
4.2. Safety Vents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5. Explosions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 .1. The Cause of Battery Explosions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1
5.2. The Explosive Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6. Thermal Runaway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.1. High Discharge Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6.2. Short Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.3. Charging and Overcharging.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
PART III. AQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE BATTERIES
7. Primary Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7. 1. Zinc/Carbon Batteries (Leclanche Batteries) . . . . . . . . . . 136
7. 2. Zinc/Chloride Batteries (Heavy-Duty Zinc/Carbon
Batteries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7 .3. Alkaline Manganese Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
7 .4. Silver Oxide Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7.5. Mercuric Oxide Batteries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
7.6. Cadmium/Mercuric Oxide Batteries.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
7.7. Zinc/Air Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
CONTENTS ix
7.8. Primary Battery Materials and Toxicity.... . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.8.1. Cadmium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.8.2. Manganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.8.3. Mercury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7 .8.4. Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.8.5. Zinc................................... 151
7.9. Aqueous Electrolyte Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
7.9.1. Ammoniacal Electrolytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.9.2. Alkaline Electrolytes...................... 153
7.9.3. Zinc Chloride Electrolytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
8. Rechargeable Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
8.1. Lead-Acid Batteries, Vented and Sealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.2. Nickel/Cadmium Batteries, Vented and Sealed . . . . . . . . 162
8.3. Nickel/Metal Hydride Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
8.4. Nickel/Zinc Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
8.5. Silver/Zinc Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
8.6. Manganese/Zinc Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
8. 7. Zinc/ Air Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4
8.8. Rechargeable Battery Materials and Toxicity. . . . . . . . . . 177
8.8.1. Antimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
8.8.2. Arsenic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
8.8.3. Cadmium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.8.4. Cobalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.8.5. Lead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
8.8.6. Manganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.8.7. Nickel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.8.8. Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
8.8.9. Zinc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
8.8.10. Metal Hydrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
8.9. Aqueous Electrolyte Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
8.9.1. Alkaline Electrolytes...................... 184
8.9.2. Sulfuric Acid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
PART IV. LITHIUM BA TIERIES
9. Solid Cathode Lithium Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
9.1. Lithium/Manganese Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
9 .1.1. General Safety Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
9 .1.2. Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
X CONTENTS
9.1.3. Safety-Related Design Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.1.4. Abuse Tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
9.2. Lithium/Poly(Carbonmonofluoride).... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
9.2.1. Safety-Related Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
9.2.2. Safety/Abuse Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
9.3. Lithium/Copper Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
9.3.1. Safety-Related Design Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
9.3.2. Safety/Abuse Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
9.4. Lithium/Copper Oxyphosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.4.1. Safety Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
9.5. Lithium/Copper Sulfide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
9.5.1. Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
9.5.2. Design Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
9.5.3. Safety/Abuse Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
9.6. Lithium/Vanadium Pentoxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
9.6.1. Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
9.6.2. Abuse Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
9. 7. Lithium/Chromium Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
9.7.1. Safety/Abuse Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
9.8. Lithium/Iron Sulfide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
9.8.1. Design Features.......................... 202
9.8.2. Safety/Abuse Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
9.9. Lithium/Silver Vanadium Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
9.9.1. Safety Tests ............................. 203
9.10. Lithium/Iodine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
9.11. Other Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
9 .11.1. Lithium/Silver Chromate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
9.11.2. Lithium/Silver-Bismuth Chromate . . . . . . . . . . 205
9.11.3. Lithium/Bismuth Oxychromate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
9.11.4. Lithium/Bismuth Oxide................... 206
9.11.5. Lithium/Lead Iodide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
9 .11.6. Lithium/Bismuth-Lead Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
9.11.7. Lithium/Cobalt Polysulfide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
10. Lithium/Thionyl Chloride Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.1. Documented Safety Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.2. Hazardous Reactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
10.2.1. Normal Discharge........................ 212
10.2.2. Forced Overdischarge into Reversal. . . . . . . . . . 213
10.2.3. Charging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
10.2.4. Other Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.2.5. Increased Pressure....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214