Freudenberg boosts capabilities at Michigan lab

PLYMOUTH, Mich.—When Freudenberg Sealing Technologies promises that the battery electric vehicle seals it manufactures will deliver under the most taxing of circumstances, it's not just talk. It's data-driven science.

And it turns out, FST is bringing an awful lot of science and data to the table.

To push the limits of the materials and products it brings to the EV market, the sealing solutions provider has invested an undisclosed six-figure amount in special lab and testing capabilities at its Plymouth Central Laboratory.

At the heart of FST's investment is a specially designed isolation and containment chamber (IsoC), measuring 6-by-3-by-3 feet. The two-chambered, glass and steel enclosure allows for materials and products to be tested safely against the lithium electrolytic solutions found in lithium-ion battery cells.

Joe Walker, global technology director of materials and laboratories for Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, believes that FST is the only one among its competitors—and one of only a handful of testing labs nationwide—to provide this type of testing. One major reason for that is the cost involved. Just one gallon of the solution needed for testing could cost thousands of dollars.

"To my knowledge, none of our competitors have these testing capabilities," Walker said, noting that most independent laboratories don't either. "They can test battery pack assemblies, but it's too late at that point. If you have something that is not going to seal and provide the necessary functions in that battery, you should have known before you made the battery pack assembly."

Two electrolytic solutions are used in the testing—one commonly found in the lithium-ion batteries and one developed as a control. Families of materials developed by FST will be tested first, and commercially available materials used in the batteries will be examined next.

Some renovation had to be done to accommodate the IsoC at the Plymouth facility, but very little was required.

"We had one of these multipurpose rooms that we were able to make some upgrades on, and all we had to do was really just make some changes to the ventilation system hook-ups for this device," Walker said. "There are some different requirements for power, but those required only slight modifications, not anything huge."

Walker said FST began exploring opportunities to expand its testing capabilities several years ago, keeping a close eye on the automotive market and the technology developments in that space.

Projected demand of battery electric vehicles is a main driver of growth in the lithium-ion battery market, but it's not the only factor. Within the next five years, FST said, the market may see double-digit growth with a number of sectors—automotive, construction, agriculture, mining, commercial truck, ship and trains, and electronics—embracing the technology.

In each of the applications, the electrolytic solutions used in the batteries may optimize power and charging, but they also expose seals, gaskets and other battery components to a constant mix of reactive, flammable, caustic and hazardous chemicals.

"When you make a part and it doesn't work, the traditional OEMs—they expect you to have the technical wherewithal to solve the problem," Walker said. "One of the ways you prevent having problems is making sure you do the right laboratory testing up front to make the right choices to begin with."

And that's why the investment in the testing capabilities is so important, Walker said. It all comes back to that promise. When FST designs and manufactures a part, it wants it to be 100 percent certain that the material and design will do exactly what it promises. And it wants the data to prove it.

"When we make a material recommendation for a particular part, it is rooted in data, and we are very comfortable making our claims that it is going to work," Walker said. "We deal in a world of applied chemistry. And at the end of the day, our job is to protect our customers. We also protect the ultimate consumer—and that would be us. We all will be driving these things or somehow using them. We don't get a pass if (our products) don't work, just because we are a company manufacturing parts."

Safety first

The materials used in the lithium-ion battery testing are what FST described as "very aggressive" solutions that "are volatile, toxic and flammable when exposed to oxygen and ambient air moisture."

The IsoC is designed specifically for testing to be conducted in an oxygen-free, moisture-free environment. Michael Saruna, FST's central laboratory chemist who is in charge of material testing in electrolytic solutions, detailed the procedure.

The dual chambers of the IsoC allow him to install test samples in the first chamber, purge all air, oxygen and moisture from that space, and then move them to the second, larger IsoC chamber for exposure testing.

"Electrolytic solution exposed to air can result in a hazardous situation," Saruna said, "so we had to take safety and our ability to maintain a controlled environment into account during the design of the IsoC."

Once they are prepared for testing inside the IsoC, the materials are immersed in electrolytic solution for at least 1,000 hours before they are decontaminated to ensure they are safe for removal from the containment chamber. Once they are removed, they undergo the standard physical and analytical testing conducted by FST.

Technicians and chemists involved in the testing are equipped with head-to-toe protective gear and special respirators; non-reactive, nickel-based immersion vessels; and a safety monitoring and alarm system that can detect spills, leakage, gas formation or other hazards.

Newly installed technology also allows laboratory chemists to monitor the immersion samples remotely at anytime from anywhere using a laptop computer, phone or tablet.

"Moisture and oxygen are two of the attributes that are monitored continuously, and we have access to them from our smartphones or laptops anywhere in the world," Walker said. "In a nutshell, we made an investment in protecting our people."