What do thermal pads do in an EV battery pack?
A thermal pad sits between the battery cells and the casing and gives heat a path out of the cells. Cells generate heat when they are charged and discharged, and a cell that cannot shed that heat ages faster than its neighbours, so the pad is doing reliability work as much as thermal work.
LJIPL Mr.Bond® thermal pads offer good thermal conductivity with low thermal resistance while being an excellent insulation material. That pairing is the point: the pad has to conduct heat while not conducting electricity.
It also has a mechanical job. Being compressible, it allows for expansion and contraction of cells during charging and discharging and aids in securing the cells in position when vibrations occur. The full group range of EV materials is listed at Lalit Jain Industries Pvt. Ltd. (LJIPL).
What does thermal conductivity from 1 to 8 W/m·K mean?
W/m·K, watts per metre kelvin, is the standard measure of how readily a material conducts heat. A higher figure means more heat moves through the same thickness of material for the same temperature difference across it.
We can offer thermal conductivity from 1 W/m·K to 8 W/m·K as per your specification. That range exists because packs differ: a pad that is more conductive than the design needs is not automatically the right answer, since conductivity, softness and thickness all trade against each other in a real assembly.
When you enquire, give the heat load, the gap to be filled and the conductivity your thermal model calls for, and the pad will be specified against it. If the number has simply been handed to you, our guide to what W/m·K means when you are specifying a thermal pad explains why thickness and contact pressure change the result as much as the conductivity does.
What does UL 94V0 approval mean on a thermal pad?
UL 94 is the standard classification for the flammability of plastic materials, and V0 is the highest of its vertical burn ratings. Our thermal pads are UL 94V0 approved, the highest rating for fire resistance.
On a material that sits inside a sealed battery enclosure in direct contact with cells, that rating is usually a requirement rather than a preference, and it is the first thing a pack designer checks on a datasheet. What the vertical burn test actually measures, and how V-0 differs from V-1 and V-2, is explained in what UL 94 V-0 means on a tape.
Stocks are readily available in roll form, and sizes and other thicknesses can be customised as per requirements, send your pad footprint, gap and conductivity requirement for a quote.
If you are still deciding what to specify, the thermal interface materials page lists what to measure first, and the EV battery tapes hub shows the materials that sit around the pad in the same pack.