Adhesives for Electric Vehicles

Adhesives offer many advantages to both traditional as well as electric vehicles, including; ease of use compared to welding, environmental resistance, sealing, distributing stress, and joining mis-matched materials – e.g. plastic to metal. However, the use of adhesives in electric vehicles is even more widespread than their use in conventional automobiles. The reasons for this include their ability to bond composites and low surface energy plastics, which results in a lower component weight, improved thermal conductivity and electrical insulation.

Typical EV adhesive applications:

  • Bonding battery boxes
  • Encapsulating with expandable thermally conductive filler
  • Bonding battery cells to casings
  • Bonding and potting sensors
  • Bonding magnets in electric motors
  • Bonding doors, hood, and trunk components
  • Threadlocking and retaining bolts, pins, and bearings
  • Bonding interior dashboard and trim
  • Sealing heat exchangers
  • Forming gaskets

Electric vehicle being charged

Bonding Electric Vehicle Battery Boxes

Adhesives are often used to bond and seal the lid of the battery pack to the body. High-performance plastics help keep the battery lightweight and durable, as well as offering vibration, impact and weather resistance. However, these plastics are often filled and can prove quite difficult to bond – special adhesives are therefore needed to offer the level of adhesion required.  Non-setting / blow-out gasket materials are also used for battery sealing applications; in the event that if there is a thermal-runout, pressure can be released from the battery without causing the casing to explode. In normal day to day operation the uncured “adhesive” material remains in situ, thus preventing moisture ingress or contamination of the battery. It also allows for easy battery servicing if required.

Potting / Filling Space Around EV Battery Cells

Permabond is proud to share news of its Patent-Pending thermally conductive expanding foam innovation. We developed this exciting new material to expand and fill space around battery cells whilst providing thermal management to help dissipate heat away from cells, thus helping prevent thermal run out.  This expanding adhesive has a number of benefits:

  • Lightweight – this helps improve vehicle performance as well as efficiency and makes lifting and handling the battery easier
  • High level of fire retardancy – inclusion of intumescent filler material
  • Excellent thermal conductivity
  • Cures at room temperature

Bonding EV Battery Cells to Cold-Plate

As part of a battery’s thermal management system, often a cold-plate or thermally conductive plate is used to drive heat away from the battery, therefore reducing the chance of thermal runaway and allowing faster charging (=more heat produced).  There is high demand for faster charging, undoubtably increasing the demand for better thermal management in batteries. However, in order to achieve this improved performance, thermally conductive adhesives are needed to bond battery cells to cold plates to help drive the heat away from the cell. Permabond has a range of different thermally conductive fillers to meet thermal conductivity performance requirements in line with battery manufacturers’ processes and costing requirements.

Key Features of the Permabond Range:

Permabond has a complete line of adhesives for conventional and electric vehicles, which allow engineers freedom to design for maximum performance. Some key features of adhesives for this industry include:

  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Electrical Insulating
  • Excellent adhesion to composites, metals, plastics, including low surface energy plastics
  • Heat resistance
  • Environmental resistance
  • No odor adhesives
  • Halogen-free products available
  • Fire retardancy

Contact Permabond with details of your application – we will help assist you with a product recommendation to optimise your design and help you meet your production objectives. Permabond’s friendly and helpful technical team can’t wait to help you with your project.

For more information, see

Thermally Conductive, High Temperature Resistant Epoxy

and

Permabond MT3836 – Flexible, Fire Retardant and Thermally Conductive Adhesive

and

Adhesives for Electric Vehicle Batteries

 

Contáctenos

Conozca más
Conozca más
Obtenga una copia de nuestro certificado ISO.

Latest Posts