방화 현장으로 오인될 수 있는 리튬이온배터리의 특징적 연소 거동과 감식 기법

Abstract

Lithium Ion Battery(LIB) is an efficient electric power supplying source for a broad range of applications including electric devices and electric vehicles. LIB can be produced in various forms, and its applications have been becoming more diverse and broader. As LIB is becoming applicable to a broader range of devices used in our daily life and many industries, the reported cases of fire caused by thermal runaway of LIBs along with losses and damages from such cases are increasing. LIB’s thermal runaway is proceeded at very fast pace, and splinters from thermal runaway are spread in unexpected directions and, as precedent cases show, may self-combust where it lands, which may cause misinterpretations on the origin and causes of fire in the course of fire-investigation. Due to LIB’s such characteristic combusting behavior rendering difficulty in investigating cause of fire, development of fire investigation technics is required in relation to LIB combustion. Through a series of experiments of LIB combustion, this study analyzes LIB‘s combusting behaviors including spread-pattern, distance and re-combusting of electrode wreckages splintered from LIB-powered products’ combustion. LIB’s characteristic combusting behavior was manifested as independent fire similar to arson. The purpose of this study is to provide a base of fire investigation technics that would help investigators minimize misinterpretations and enhance the credibility of fire investigation in LIB-related fire cases.