Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:26:59.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Enhancing the Operating Life and Performance of Lead-Acid Batteries via Grain-Boundary Engineering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

G. Palumbo  and
U. Erb
Get access

Extract

Although conventional lead-acid batteries are considered a rather mature technology, significant research and development efforts are currently under way to enhance their performance and operating life. These efforts are being driven by the demands of both the automotive and stationary (or standby) market sectors. Both major markets have need of lead-acid batteries with higher energy density or reduced size and weight; however, the automotive sector is also driven to mitigate the cycle-life reduction of its “starter, lighting, and ignition” (SLI) batteries that results from rising “under the hood” temperatures in modern automobiles.

The operating and cycle lives of leadacid batteries are limited by the resistance of the positive Pb-alloy electrodes to intergranular-degradation processes (i.e., corrosion, cracking, and creep). Figure 1 shows an example of near-through-wall cracking and some inter-granular corrosion (grain-dropping at surface) observed in a Pb-lwt%Sb positive battery grid following approximately four years of service. In addition to the breaching of grid electrical continuity by corrosion and cracking processes (as indicated in Figure 1), the relatively high homologous temperature of operation for lead-acid batteries (i.e., >0.6 Tm, where Tm is the melting temperature) promotes intergranular-creep processes that result in dimensional changes in the electrodes over time (i.e., grid “growth”); this causes adjacent plates to short, leading to reduced battery capacity.

Type
Advanced Materials for Energy Storage
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 24 , Issue 11 , November 1999 , pp. 27 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Riezenman, M.J., IEEE Spectrum 32 (1995) p. 51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Oman, H., in Proc. 9th Annual Battery Conf. on Advances and Applications, Vol. 9 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway, NJ, 1994) p. 25.Google Scholar
3.Lander, J.J., J. Etectrochem. Soc. 98 (1968) p. 220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Bode, H., in Lead Acid Batteries (Wiley lnterscience, New York, 1977) p. 332.Google Scholar
5.Palumbo, G. and Aust, K.T., in Materials Interfaces, edited by Wolf, D. and Yip, S. (Chapman & Hall, London, 1992) p. 190.Google Scholar
6.Kronberg, M.L. and Wilson, F.H.. Trans. TMS-AIME 185 (1949) p. 501.Google Scholar
7.Adams, B., Wright, S., and Kunze, K., Metall. Trans. A 24 (1993) p. 819; J.A. Venables and C.J. Harland, Philos. Mag. 27 (1973) p. 1193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Palumbo, G., King, P.J., Aust, K.T., Erb, U., and Lichtenberger, P.C., Scripta Metall. 25 (1991) p. 1775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Lehockey, E.M., Palumbo, G., Lin, P., and Brennenstuhl, A.M., in Proc. Microscopy and Microanalysis 1996, edited by Bailey, G.W., Corbett, J.M., Dimlich, R.V.W., Michael, J.R., and Zaluzec, N.J. (San Francisco Press, San Francisco, 1996) p. 346.Google Scholar
10.Palumbo, G., Lehockey, E.M., and Brennenstuhl, A.M., U.S. Patent Application No. 08/977,518 (1997).Google Scholar
11.Palumbo, G., U.S. Patent No. 5,702,543 (December 30,1997) and U.S. Patent No. 5,817,193 (October 6,1998).Google Scholar
12.Palumbo, G., Aust, K.T., Erb, U., King, P.J., Brennenstuhl, A.M., and Lichtenberger, P.C., Phys. Status Solidi A 131 (1992) p. 425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Palumbo, G. and Aust, K.T., in Grain Growth in Polycrystalline Materials III, edited by Weiland, H., Adams, B.L., and Rollett, R.D.. (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, Warrendale, PA, 1998) p. 311.Google Scholar
14.Lehockey, E.M., Palumbo, G., Lin, P., and Brennenstuhl, A.M., Metall. Mater. Trans. 29A (1998) p. 387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Lehockey, E.M., Palumbo, G., and Lin, P., in “Boundaries and Interfaces in Materials,” The David H. Smith Symposium, edited by Pond, R.C., Clark, W.A.T., King, A.H., and Williams, D.B. (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, Warrendale, PA, 1998) p. 45.Google Scholar
16.Lehockey, E.M., Brennenstuhl, A.M., Palumbo, G., and Lin, P., Br. Corros. J. 33 (1998) p. 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Lehockey, E.M., Limoges, D., Palumbo, G., Sklarchuk, J., Tomantschger, K., and Vincze, A., J. Power Sources 78 (1999) p. 79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Zhang, L. (private communication).Google Scholar
19.Palumbo, G., Thorpe, S.J., and Aust, K.T., Scripta Metall. 24 (1990) p. 1347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Mutschele, T. and Kirchheim, R., Scripta Metall. 21 (1987) p. 1101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Erb, U., El-Sherik, A.M., Palumbo, G., and Aust, K.T., Nanostruct. Mater. 2 (1993) p. 383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Warlimont, H., Olper, M., Ueberschaer, A., and Drafahl, K., U.S. Patent No. 5,672,181 (September 30,1997).Google Scholar
23.Olper, M. and Fracchia, P., U.S. Patent No. 4,769,116 (September 6,1998).Google Scholar
24.Erb, U. and El-Sherik, A.M., U.S. Patent No. 5,352,266 (October 4,1994).Google Scholar