Lotte Chemical develops anti-thermal runaway material

Lotte Chemical Corp., South Korea’s second-largest petrochemicals company seeking to ramp up value-added advanced materials production, has developed a specialty material that can delay sudden heat spikes in batteries, the company announced on Thursday.

The material is a high-strength, flame-retardant polypropylene (PP) material that can slow thermal runaway in electric vehicle batteries.

Thermal runaway is a phenomenon whereby a lithium-ion battery is struck by a sudden spike in temperature, up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, due to a physical shock from outside. The heat generated by a series of chemical reactions inside the battery causes even more heat, leading to a continuous rise in temperature and eventually a fire.

Lotte Chemical has developed the specialty material by mixing short glass fiber PP with long glass fiber, it said.

The latest development is part of the company’s efforts to diversify its product portfolio by upping the production of value-added specialty and battery materials – such as copper foil, separators and solar cell materials – as new growth engines while reducing its output of base chemicals.

Lotte Chemical has vowed to raise its value-added product share to 60% of its entire portfolio by 2032 from 42% in 2022.

It plans to introduce diverse eco-friendly and specialty materials to meet global battery makers' differing needs and changes in trends, the company said.

Write to Hyeon-woo Oh at ohw@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.