The Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight Construction (AZL) is launching a nine-month research project to develop a new fire testing method for battery casings, aiming to improve safety in electric vehicle and aerospace applications.
The project, officially titled “Thermal Runaway Testing for Battery Casings – Benchmarking Systems for High-Gradient Heating and Hot Particle Blasting,” seeks to replicate the challenging thermal conditions that can occur during battery failure events. The test setup will expose materials to both high-gradient flame and controlled particle blasting to simulate real-world stress scenarios such as those caused by thermal runaway in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery cells.
According to AZL, the new test bench aims to enable “systematic benchmarking of materials under stress conditions prevalent in the automotive as well as the aerospace industries.” The centre says the goal is to provide insight into material selection, performance, and qualification, with a focus on thermal resistance and mechanical integrity.
“The project centers around the development and implementation of a new test bench that combines high gradient flame exposure and controlled hot particle impact – mimicking the complex conditions of thermal runaway events in modern cell technologies such as LFP and NMC,” the Aachen team said in a statement.
While AZL has not disclosed its current project partners, it confirmed that participating companies will have access to the final benchmarking results and can submit their own materials for evaluation.
The initiative builds on an earlier AZL-led program involving 24 industrial partners, including BMW and Audi, which developed a method to assess materials at flame temperatures of 800°C, 1000°C, and 1200°C. That earlier effort evaluated over 50 materials, including metals, plastics, and composite configurations, and focused on their tensile load survival, failure behavior, areal weight, and cost per area.
“It enables participants to pool resources, validate their own solutions, and gain insight into leading alternatives in the market,” AZL researchers noted. They added that battery casings are no longer just structural components, but critical parts of the energy storage system, with material choices influencing weight, safety, cost, and the carbon footprint of electric mobility products.