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Resilient Material Solutions for Battery Pack Components

The consistent evolution of battery technology requires high-performance materials for a range of battery pack components, particularly in the automotive industry. High-voltage battery packs—such as those used to provide power to next-gen electric vehicles—are made up of several crucial applications, all of which must deliver exceptional performance and reliability despite extremely challenging conditions and even more demanding cost-efficiency expectations.

Syensqo's portfolio of resilient products for battery pack components includes a range of high-performance polymers and composite solutions. These innovative materials are intentionally designed to empower a higher power density by creating the capacity for more flexible EV battery pack design freedom, which is the preferred strategy to augment battery capacity. Our selection of material solutions for battery pack delivers outstanding reliability in three primary application categories: electric components, structural components, and thermal runaway mitigation.

Electric Components

The electric components in high-voltage electric components uphold the demand for extremely high-temperature resistance, exceptional mechanical integrity and reliable electric properties.

High-Voltage (HV) Connectors

HV connectors in battery packs, such as in/outbound connectors, require halogen-free FR V0, high CTI performance, dimensional stability under a wide temperature range and no crack after thermal shock. Syensqo's Amodel® PPA is a best-in-class polyamide with extremely high strength and stiffness in elevated temperatures, making it the material of choice for HV connectors. Amodel® PPA grades such as AE, HFFR and BIOS deliver a variety of key properties, including halogen-free processing, good heat aging performance, excellent chemical and moisture resistance, High CTI performance and even low carbon emission potential offerings.

High-Voltage (HV) Busbars

HV Busbars in modern battery packs consist of overmoldings, coatings or extrusions that exist between pack modules and inside the battery disconnect unit. These applications require halogen-free FR V0, insulation performance in a wide temperature range, good temperature and flame resistance and no crack after thermal shock. Amodel® PPA and Ryton® PPS, two of Syensqo's most proclaimed high-performance specialty polymers, provide the ideal set of processing and performance properties for HV busbar applications in next-gen battery packs. Amodel® PPA offers injection-moldable and powder coating grades, providing halogen-free options, electric-friendly grades to prevent copper from corrosion, good heat aging performance and high CTI performance. Ryton® PPS offers both injection molding and extrusion grades with the exceptional thermal and crack resistant performance.

Key Solutions for Battery Pack Electric Components:

• Amodel® PPA - injection-moldable polyphthalamide with high strength and stiffness in high temperatures
• Ryton® PPS - high-performance polymer with excellent electrical insulation and dimensional stability

Structural Components

Battery packs must be constructed with high-quality, robust materials to ensure optimal reliability and performance to withstand intense production conditions as well as extensive usage.

Battery Enclosure

The battery pack enclosure itself must adhere to stringent regulatory compliance and elaborate durability testing. Suitable solutions for this application are required to satisfy thermal runaway safety requirements, and need to exhibit exceptional torsional stiffness; enhanced durability amidst humidity, corrosion resistance and vibration dumping; while offering the opportunity to optimise the weight of the structure. The use of Syensqo's SolvaLite® Thermoset Composite and Evolite® Thermoplastic Composites in a BEV battery enclosure system can help achieve 23% energy density improvement when compared to incumbent metallic designs, making them optimal for lightweighting of electrical vehicles. The enhanced design freedom guaranteed by plastics also allows optimising the pack assembly and reducing the reduced number of components. Additionally, these high-performance composites deliver compliance to the most challenging thermal runaway and EMI shielding requirements, thus making them optimal for today’s most dependable battery enclosure designs.

Watch our latest presentation on "Composite Battery Solution - Materials, Manufacturing and Design".

Module End Plate

Module end plates in HV battery packs are designed to prevent the module from failing while adding strength to the enclosure’s structure. These applications ideally require exceptional stiffness, strength and creep performance to ensure module safety under cell swelling, good electrical insulation performance and lightweighting potential. Syensqo's Amodel® PPA and Xencor^TM LFT (long fiber thermoplastics) deliver a wide range of key processing and performance characteristics for module end plate design. Xencor^TM PPA LGF grades, for instance, offer > 30% weight reduction compared with metallic design alternatives, good dimensional stability and creep resistance, injection moldability for faster processing cycles and easier integration and outstanding strength. Additionally, they require no supplemental insulation layer, which further improves miniaturization and lightweighting efforts.

Key Solutions for Battery Pack Structural Components:

• SolvaLite® Thermoset Composite - high-quality thermoset for improved energy density and lightweighting
• Elvolite® Thermoplastic Composite - designed for use in ultra-lightweight composite applications, offering outstanding mechanical properties
• Xencor^TM LFT - injection-moldable long-fiber thermoplastics with excellent dimensional stability and creep resistance

Thermal Runaway Mitigation Materials

As battery packs continue to evolve, battery cell-to-pack design engineers require multiple high-temperature resistant materials for various components, high-stiffness and -strength materials for metal replacement and composite materials for non-metal enclosure designs. Thermal runaway mitigation is a key concern for a wide range of components inside HV battery packs and enclosure applications, and regulations are becoming increasingly stringent.

Syensqo's thermal runaway mitigation materials are optimal for use in a range of key components, including insulation plates, HV busbars, coolant pipes and connectors, battery vent units and battery enclosures. Our leading portfolio of materials for thermal runaway mitigation includes specific grades of Ryton PPS®, Amodel® PPA, Xencor^TM LFT and Xydar® LCP. These thermal runaway resistance materials deliver the optimal combination of mechanical properties, dielectric strength, CTI performance, good insulative abilities, high-temperature resistance and heat/damp-heat aging properties. With Syensqo's thermal runaway mitigation material solutions, OEMs can meet crucial compliance regulations for battery packs, including GB 38031-2020 for Thermal Runaway Safety. 

Key Solutions for Battery Pack Thermal Runaway Mitigation:

• Xydar® LCP - is a glass fiber or mineral-filled resin that features excellent flow properties. The new Xydar® LCP G-330 HH material addresses challenging thermal and insulation requirements and is targeted particularly at battery module plates of EV models operating with higher voltage systems.
• Xencor^TM LFT - injection-moldable long-fiber thermoplastics with excellent dimensional stability and creep resistance