Multifunctional Explosive Battery

This report covers work on an explosive battery whose feasibility was established during an earlier program. On the present program, the lithium vanadium pentoxide couple with a nitromethane-ethylene carbonate lithium perchlorate-aluminum chloride electrolyte was selected for battery fabrication and evaluation. Batteries were discharged at rates from 4 to 400 mA and at temperatures from -40 to 160 deg F. Energy densities of over 40 Whrlb were obtained with discharges at -10 and 70 deg F. Batteries survived drop tests without significant damage. Detonation was demonstrated over a temperature range of -60 to 160 deg F, but the test fixture did not allow complete evaluation. High temperature storage results in electrolyte gelling, but this could be prevented in reserve cells by storing the solvent system in a reservoir and having the electrolyte salts present in the separator.