New thermal battery manufacturing method to be industrialized under Sandia, ATB research agreement

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M - A new thin-film coating process for manufacturing thermal batteries used in nuclear weapons and other munitions that was invented at Sandia National Laboratories will be industrialized under a new corporate partnership with a Maryland company. The process could lead to create lighter batteries in a variety of shapes for future applications.

Sandia researcher Frank Delnick works with a thin-film coating he developed to make thermal battery components. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

A thermal battery is a nonrechargeable, single-use energy source that can remain inert for years at room temperature before becoming activated at temperatures as high as 1,100 degrees (600 degrees Celsius). The thin-film coating process changes the way some thermal batteries have been made since the 1950s.

Sandia researchers also are looking into whether a patented binder used in the new thin-film coating process has commercial applications, for example in lithium-ion batteries in electric and hybrid vehicles and in batteries used in the petroleum industry when drilling deep underground in hot geothermal environments.

Sandia and ATB Inc., a Cockeysville, Md.-based manufacturer of thermal batteries, recently signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to test Sandia's new thin-film coating process for large-scale industrial production.

''We can take the developments that we've had in the lab, scale up the quantities of materials that we use and instead of producing tens of batteries we can produce hundreds of batteries in ATB's facility,'' said Tom Wunsch, manager of Sandia's Advanced Power Sources Research & Development Group. ''It's beneficial to us to have an industrial partner to work with on these issues and for them to have this new technology.''

Guy Chagnon, CEO of ATB, said his company and Sandia have been working independently on changing the process for producing thermal batteries.