A novel flexible phase change material with well thermal and mechanical properties for lithium batteries application

• A flexible PCM with silicone rubber and BN is proposed. • The flexible PCM with SR has super thermal stability and natural adhesion. • The BN particles can obviously enhance thermal and mechanical properties. • The flexible PCM exhibit good battery thermal management performance. • The drop test and FE simulation was conducted to confirm the Anti-collision effect. Battery thermal management and battery collision prevention are very important for the safe operation of batteries of electric vehicles. This study proposes a novel flexible phase change material (PCM) with both battery thermal management and anti-collision performance. Experiments were conducted to test the thermophysical properties and battery thermal management performance of PCM. Under 3C discharge, the battery thermal management system (BTMS) of the material can control battery temperature and the temperature difference of 45.7 °C and 1.7 °C, respectively. Moreover, the battery drop experiment and simulation were also performed to evaluate the anti-collision performance of flexible PCM. The results show that the PCM has a good impact buffering effect. The battery can reduce the stress of the battery shell and core by 96.3% and 41.9%, respectively, than the system without the flexible PCM when dropped from a height of 1 m.