Fracture of storage particles is considered to be one of the major reasons for capacity fade and increasing power loss in Li-ion batteries. In this work, we tackle the problem by merging a coupled model of mechanical stress and diffusion of Li-ions with a phase field description of an evolving crack. The novel approach allows us to study the evolution of the Li concentration together with the initiation and growth of a crack in an arbitrary geometry and without presuming a specific crack path.

Fracture of storage particles is considered to be one of the major reasons for capacity fade and increasing power loss in Li-ion batteries. In this work, we tackle the problem by merging a coupled model of mechanical stress and diffusion of Li-ions with a phase field description of an evolving crack. The novel approach allows us to study the evolution of the Li concentration together with the initiation and growth of a crack in an arbitrary geometry and without presuming a specific crack path. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Hierarchically structured active materials in electrodes of lithium-ion cells are promising candidates for increasing gravimetric energy density and improving rate capability of the system. To investigate the influence of cathode structures on the performance of the whole cell, efficient tools for calculating effective transport properties of granular systems are developed and their influence on the electrochemical performance is investigated in specially adapted cell models.

Most storage materials exhibit phase changes, which cause stresses and, thus, lead to damage of the electrode particles. In this work, a phase-field model for the cathode material NaxFePO4 of Na-ion batteries is studied to understand phase changes and stress evolution. Furthermore, we study the particle size and SOC dependent miscibility gap of the nanoscale insertion materials. Finally, we introduce the nonlocal species concentration theory, and show how the nonlocality influences the results.

Soft Magnetic Composites (SMCs) typically consist of large iron particles coated with a fairly thin inorganic layer. The combination of soft particles with a brittle layer causes, however, a rather poor mechanical behaviour of the SMCs. The particle boundaries of the specific SMC Somaloy 700 3P can be classified into four different types according to the complexity of their layers. Tests on both micro- and macroscale showed that the particle-boundary interface is critical in terms of failure.

This book investigates the fatigue mechanisms and crack initiation of Ni, Al and Cu on a small-scale in the Very High Cycle Fatigue regime by means of innovative fatigue experimentation. A novel custom-built resonant fatigue setup showed that the sample resonant frequency changes with increasing cycle number due to fatigue damage. Mechanisms such as slip band formation have been observed. Cyclic hardening, vacancy and oxidation formation may be considered as early fatigue mechanisms.

Solid state batteries with a lithium metal electrode are considered the next generation of high energy battery technology. Unfortunately, lithium metal is prone to harmful protrusion or dendrite growth which causes dangerous cell failure. Within this work the problem of protrusion growth is tackled by deriving a novel electro-chemo-mechanical theory tailored for binary solid state batteries which is then used to discuss the impact of mechanics on interface stability by numerical studies.

Single crystalline, μm-sized cantilevers are fabricated out of epitaxially grown Ag thin films by a lithography-based procedure and are deflected by a nanoindenter system. The microstructure of the plastically deformed cantile-vers is investigated using transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) on the cantilever cross section. 3D discrete dislocation dynamics simulations (DDD) are performed for further analysis. A mechanism to explain the formation of dislocation networks upon loading is suggested.

In this work, the ratcheting-behavior of 9%Cr-1%Mo ferritic-martensitic steel is studied with uniaxial cyclic loading. To describe the ratcheting-behavior of this steel, a visco-plastic constitutive model with consideration of cyclic softening of Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic steels is further modified, based on the analysis of back stress.