TY  - JOUR
AU  - Aydın, Kadir
AU  - Ün, Çağrı
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/01
TI  - Boron-Based Solid Cooling Powder for Suppression of Lithium-Ion Battery Fires
JO  - Recent Progress in Science and Engineering
SP  - 013
VL  - 02
IS  - 03
AB  - Thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is an escalating fire-safety problem in electric vehicles and battery energy-storage systems (BESS), and conventional water-based suppression has repeatedly been shown to delay propagation without preventing pack destruction or re-ignition. Solid, electrically non-conductive cooling agents are a promising but under-characterized alternative. This study addresses the absence of comparative, in-pack data on boron-based salt-hydrate cooling powders. Eight propane-burner ignition tests were performed on five LIB cell formats (NMC pouch, NMC pouch pack, LTO prismatic, NCA cylindrical and LiFePO4 cylindrical) using manual water and Cobra-type extinguishers. As a separate proof-of-concept experiment, a 15-cell 18650 NMC pack (≈110 Wh) was fully immersed in solid borax-pentahydrate (Na2B4O7·5H2O) cooling powder and exposed to a 1.4 kW external heat source for 23 min, with continuous K-type thermocouple logging. Water-based methods produced re-ignition and explosive cell ejection in cylindrical packs (peak 600-890°C; extinction times up to 9 min). The boron-immersed pack remained below 75°C for the full 23-min exposure with a single transient 102.5°C reading that was an artifact of thermocouple withdrawal and showed no flame, gas venting or cell rupture. The behavior is interpreted through the endothermic dehydration cascade of borax pentahydrate (≈210 kJ/mol at 160-450°C) and a re-cast Arrhenius-type one-step thermal-runaway model. Within the explicit limitations of a single, uncontrolled comparison, boron-based salt-hydrate cooling shows strong potential as a non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, infrastructure-light, in-pack suppression strategy that is complementary to rather than a replacement for water-based methods. Controlled, replicated and scaled-up testing, together with material-level characterization, is identified as essential future work.
SN  - 3067-4573
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/rpse.2603013
DO  - 10.21926/rpse.2603013
ID  - Aydın2026
ER  -