• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.233-255
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• 2019

Thermal batteries are reserve batteries with molten salts as an electrolyte, which activates at high temperature. Due to their excellent reliability, long shelf life, and mechanical robustness, thermal batteries are used in military applications. A high-performance cathode for thermal batteries should be considered in terms of its high capacity, high voltage, and high thermal stability. Research progress on cathode materials from the recent decade is reviewed in this article. The major directions of research were surface modification, compounding of existing materials, fabrication of thin film cathode, and development of new materials. In order to develop a high-performance cathode, a proper combination of these research directions is required while considering mass production and cost.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.308-311
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• 2012

A wide range of possible hazards existing in thermal batteries are mainly caused by thermal runaway, which results in overheating or explosion in extreme case. Battery separators ensure the separation between two electrodes and the retention of ion-conductive electrolytes. Thermal runaways in thermal batteries can be significantly reduced by the adoption of these separators. The high operating temperature and the violent reactivity in thermal batteries, however, have limited the introduction of conventional separators. As a substitute for separators, MgO powders have been mostly used as a binder to hold molten salt electrolyte. During recent decades the fabrication technology of ceramic fiber, which has excellent mechanical strength and chemical stability, has undergone significant improvement. In this study we adopted wet-laid nonwoven paper making method instead of the electrospinning method which is costly and troublesome to produce in volume. Polymeric precursor can readily be coated on the surface of wet-laid ceramic paper, and be formed into ceramic film after heat treatment. The mechanical strength and the thermo-chemical stability as well as the wetting behaviors of ceramic separators with various molten salts were investigated to be applicable to thermal batteries. Due to their excellent chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties, wet-laid nonwoven separators made from ceramic fibers have revealed positive possibility as new separators for thermal batteries which operate at high temperature with no conspicuous sign of a short circuit and corrosion.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.527-534
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• 2012

Thermal batteries are primary batteries that use molten salts as an electrolyte and employ an internal pyrotechnic source to heat the battery stack to operating temperatures, typically between 450 and $550^{\circ}C$. The unit cell of thermal batteries consists of an anode, an electrolyte, a cathode, a heat pellet and a current collector. The heat source for such batteries is typically heat pellets based on $Fe/KClO_4$. The elevated temperature by combustion of heat pellet is supposed to cause a flatness non-uniformity, buckling, with a lateral extension diameter of current collector. This paper mainly focused on the combustion and buckling model of current collector to simulate the effect of heat source. Mechanical stresses in the current collector caused by thermal stress is a critical design consideration of thermal batteries because the internal short circuit could be occurred.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

Lithium-ion batteries with high energy density, long cycle life and other advantages, have been widely used to energy storage systems(ESS). But as ESS fires frequently occur, the safety concern has become the main obstacle that hinders the large-scale applications of lithium-ion batteries. Especially, thermal runaway is the key scientific problem in battery safety research. Therefore, in this study, we performed a numerical analysis on the thermal runaway phenomenon of NCM111, NCM523 and NCM622 batteries using a two-dimensional analysis model. The results show that the two-dimensional simulation results are generally matched with three-dimensional simulation. Also, In the case of NCM111 with a low Ni content in the temperature range used in this study, thermal runaway phenomenon does occurred very slowly, but as the Ni content is increased, the thermal runaway phenomenon occurs rapidly and the thermal stability tends to be decreased. And, in NCM523 and NCM622 batteries, chain reactions occur almost simultaneously, but in the case of NCM111 battery, it is found that after the SEI(Solid Electrolyte Interface) layer decomposition reaction, the cathode-electrolyte reaction is appeared sequentially. After that, the anodic decomposition reaction is increased and leads to the thermal runaway reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.583-588
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• 2017

Thermal batteries are used in military power sources that require robustness and long storage life for applications in missiles and torpedoes. $FeS_2$ powder is currently used as a cathode material because of its high specific energy density, environmental non-toxicity, and low cost. $MS_2$ (M = Fe, Ni, Co) cathodes have been explored as novel candidates for thermal batteries in many studies; however, the discharge characteristics (1, 2, 3 plateau) of single cells in thermal batteries with different cathodes have not been elucidated in detail. In this study, we independently analyzed the discharge voltage and calculated the total polarizations of single cells using $MS_2$ cathodes. Based on the results of this study, we propose $NiS_2$ as a potential cathode material for use in thermal batteries.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.224-230
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• 2012

Thermal batteries have excellent mechanical robustness, reliability, and long shelf life. Due to these characteristics as well as their unique activation mechanism, thermal batteries are widely adopted as military power sources. Li(Si)/$FeS_2$ thermal batteries, which are used mostly in these days, use LiCl-KCl and LiBr-LiCl-LiF as molten salt electrolyte. However, it is known that Li(Si)/$FeS_2$ thermal batteries have high internal resistance. Especially, $FeS_2$ cathode accounts for the greater part of internal resistance in unit cell. Many efforts have been put into to decrease the internal resistance of thermal batteries, which result in the development of new electrode material and new electrode manufacturing processes. But the applications of these new materials and processes are in some cases very expensive and need complicated additional processes. In this study, internal resistance study was conducted by adding carbon black and carbon nano-tube, which has high electron conductivity, into the $FeS_2$ cathode. As a results, it was found that the decrease of internal resistance of $FeS_2$ cathode by the addition of carbon black and carbon nano-tube.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.469-475
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• 2016

Thermal batteries are primary reserve power sources, which are activated upon the melting of eutectic electrolytes by the ignition of heat sources. Therefore, sufficient thermal insulation is absolutely needed for the stable operation of thermal batteries. Currently, excessive amount of heat sources is being used to compensate the heat loss in the cell stack along with the insertion of metal plates and thermal insulators to reserve heat at the both ends of cell stack. However, there is a possibility that the excessive heat flows into the cell stack, causing a thermal runaway at the early stage of discharge. At the same time, the internal temperature of thermal batteries cannot be maintained above the battery operating temperature at the later stage of discharge because of the insufficient insulation. Therefore, the effects of Phase Changing Material(PCM) plates were demonstrated in this study, which can replace the metal and insulating plates, to improve the thermal insulation performance and safety of thermal batteries.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.528-534
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• 2014

Thermal batteries are primary reserve batteries that use inorganic salt as electrolytes which are inactive at room temperature. The two principal heat sources that have been used in thermal batteries are heat paper and heat pellets. As soon as the heat paper, which is ignited by the initiator, in turn ignites the heat pellets, all the solid electrolytes are melted into excellent ionic conductors. However, the high combustion temperature by heat papers in thermal batteries causes thermal decomposition at the cathode, eventually leading to a thermal runaway. In this paper, we have attempted to prepare $Zr/BaCrO_4$ heat papers coated with KCl molten salt. We have also investigated the effect of a molten salt coating on the heat papers through the thermal characteristics such as calorimetric value, combustion temperature and burning rate. The calorimetric value and combustion temperature of heat papers were reduced with an increase in the molten salt coating. As a result, the molten salt coating on heat papers greatly reduced risk of a thermal runaway and improved the stability of thermal batteries.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.740-746
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• 2011

Thermally activated batteries have good stability, reliability and long shelf life. Due to these characteristics and operational mechanism, thermal batteries are usually applied to military power sources. Especially, Li/$FeS_2$ thermal batteries, which are used mostly in these days, use LiCl-KCl and LiBr-LiCl-LiF as electrolytes. The electrochemistry of thermal batteries have been researched for long time, however, electrochemical study using impedance spectroscopy was not published so much. Through this research, microscopic electrochemical research was investigated with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(E.I.S). Electrolyte effects on Li/$FeS_2$ thermal battery was researched changing electrolytes, LiCl-KCl and LiBr-LiCl-LiF. Additionally, the salts, which are added to electrolytes, effects on thermal battery were researched. It is expected that the impedance spectroscopy analysis is applicable to not only thermal battery electrochemical study effectively, but also, thermal battery developments.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.102-111
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• 2008

This paper describes the basic model and simulation results of thermal battery. Voltage and thermal analysis is a critical part of thermal-battery design because of the need to maintain the inner temperature above the electrolyte melting point. Traditionally, battery design has depended on an empirical approach, in which prototype batteries are outfitted with thermocouples and the design of subsequent batteries is refined accordingly. We have developed the basic model that allows the design engineer to configure or modify a battery, quickly conduct a thermal analysis, and efficiently review the results. Based on performance tests, the thermal-battery model was established and the effect of design parameters on battery performance was analyzed.