Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019 - 29

A GOOD GRASP:
HOW ADHESIVES AID EV DESIGN

Photo: 3M

The need for lightweighting and battery
protection in electric
vehicles has some
manufacturers looking
to structural adhesives
BY ALEXA ST. JOHN

s electric vehicle manufacturers
aim for lighter-weight materials,
crash resistance and battery
pack protection, they are looking to structural adhesives to help bring
all of those objectives together.
Companies such as 3M, Henkel Corp.,
Lord Corp. and DuPont know all about
creating strong bonds between materials, and now they are applying their
expertise to the EV battery realm.
Adhesives reduce or replace heavy
mechanical fasteners in EV battery
design. They provide a thinner and lighter
bond - which can improve EV range
- for a variety of battery components,
and can bond dissimilar materials more
quickly and with more flexibility and
strength than traditional nuts and bolts.
Adhesives are designed with more
accurate gap control in mind and bond
parts such as battery cells, battery module
side panels, cooling plates and more.
3M uses two-part epoxy and acrylic
structural adhesives, which bond to a
broad range of materials for different levels
of strength, and urethane epoxy adhesives, which are best for modules or individual cells and have cooling applications.
Henkel, a German industry and consumer goods supplier, has structural
adhesive products for EVs under a few
different brands.
Henkel offers Loctite brand structural

Clockwise, from top left: DuPont's Betaseal adhesive can also be a sealer for EV batteries.
3M's adhesive solutions include structural tapes. Lord Corp.'s CoolTherm Prismatic Battery
Adhesive offers structural bonding. Henkel has a few adhesive products for EVs, including
this gap filler in a battery pack.

adhesives that aid assembly of battery
cells, battery modules and battery packs.
Loctite sealing technologies protect the
battery from external fluids.
Henkel also offers Bergquist siliconefree materials, which are liquid gap fillers
that manage the thermal load generated
from the battery pack.
"There was no thermal material needed
for batteries in a conventional car in the
past," Frank Kerstan, Henkel business
development manager, said. "Of course,
it's a completely different game when you
talk about thousands of battery cells."
Adhesive supplier Lord Corp. created
thermally conductive structural adhesives
for EV battery packs in place of an ordinary gap filler or thermal pad. The adhesives are lightweight and provide thermal
management between battery cells. Lord
also offers adhesives for structural bonding within a battery pack.

Materials supplier DuPont offers a suite
of adhesives, such as its Betaseal brand.
"Our structural adhesives were originally
for crash safety related matters," said
Christophe Van Herreweghe, DuPont's
global strategic market manager for
adhesives assembly and the Accelerating
Hybrid Electric and Autonomous Driving,
or AHEAD, initiative.
"They also give a huge benefit in terms
of fatigue and driveability comfort of the
vehicle," he said.
As automakers set goals for longer
range, faster charging, lower cost and
more, adhesives stick as one of the best
answers.
"There is a need to constantly innovate
and bring in new lightweight materials,"
Prasanna Srinivasan, manager of business development and marketing at Lord,
said. "Adhesives in general actually add a
lot of value to EVs." n
november 2019 * shift

Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019