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Cyclic strain-induced crack growth in graphite during electrochemical testing in propylene carbonate-based Li-ion battery electrolytes

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Abstract

Lithiation/de-lithiation cycles induced cracks in isostatically pressed graphite samples subjected to constant-load bending tests while simultaneously conducting cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments in propylene carbonate-based Li-ion battery electrolyte solutions. A large cyclic strain of Δε = 0.95% was generated by lithiation/de-lithiation cycles as determined by micro-Raman measurements carried out concurrently with CV experiments. In-situ optical microscopy measurements of crack lengths, a, showed that the crack-growth rate, da/dt, depended on the stress intensity factor at the crack tip and could be expressed as da/dt = AΔK nI . A two-stage crack-growth behaviour was determined with n = 51.3 in the first stage. However, lower crack propagation rates observed in the second stage (n = 9.9) were affected by crack closure due to (1) a rough fracture surface morphology of the graphite cracks, and (2) the deposition of solid electrolyte reduction products on facetted crack surfaces, where both the factors likely contributed to reducing ΔK to ΔK eff.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada for providing financial support in the form of a Discovery Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, N9B3P4, Canada

    G. Sun, S. Bhattacharya & A. T. Alpas

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  1. G. Sun
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  2. S. Bhattacharya
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  3. A. T. Alpas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. T. Alpas.

Appendix

Appendix

According to ASTM-C1421 [27] for four-point flexure with 0.35 ≤ a≤0.60, K I (or K max) can be expressed as,

$$ K_{I} \left( {K_{\hbox{max} } } \right) = f\left[ {\frac{{P\left( {S_{0} - S_{1} } \right)10^{ - 6} }}{{BW^{{^{3/2} }} }}} \right]\left[ {\frac{{3\left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right)^{1/2} }}{{2\left( {1 - \frac{a}{W}} \right)^{3/2} }}} \right] $$
(2)

in which, P is the load applied, a is the crack length measured by in-situ optical microscopy, B is the thickness of the test specimen measured perpendicular to a, W is the width measured parallel to a and f is a function of the ratio a/W for four-point flexure expressed as,

$$ f = f\left( {a/W} \right) = 1.9887 - 1.326\left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right) - \frac{{\left\{ {3.49 - 0.68\left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right) + 1.35\left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right)^{2} } \right\}\left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right)\left\{ {1 - \left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right)} \right\}}}{{\left\{ {1 + \left( {\frac{a}{W}} \right)} \right\}^{2} }} $$
(3)

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Sun, G., Bhattacharya, S. & Alpas, A.T. Cyclic strain-induced crack growth in graphite during electrochemical testing in propylene carbonate-based Li-ion battery electrolytes. J Mater Sci 53, 1297–1309 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1547-y

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