Assessment of thermal runaway in commercial lithium iron phosphate cells due to overheating in an oven test

Overheating by oven exposure testing is a fundamental method to determine the severity of thermal runaway (TR) in lithium-ion cells. The TR behavior of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells under convection oven exposure is quantified and a comparison is made of their stability and severity against that of lithium metal oxide cells under similar conditions presented in the literature. The convection oven test is carried out at 180°C and 220°C, the TR response of the LFP cells is shown to be significantly more stable and less severe than lithium cobalt oxide cells tested in the literature. Also, under an oven abuse test a cylindrical cell is shown to have near uniform surface temperature along its length.