MASTER brings together GKN Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright, Gardner, 3M, Constellium, TWI, AMRC and Cranfield University - a consortium with \>7500 UK workforce, and global influence. The consortium will develop friction stir welding, metal bonding/fibre-metal-laminates and machining of integrated additive manufactured net-shapes to remove 10,000s of fasteners from strategic products and capitalise on design freedom of emerging platforms. Simultaneously, Cranfield shall lead environmental sustainability analysis to drive technology decisions and supply chain design.

"The Government's Faraday programme is supporting an important new research project to improve the safety of batteries for use in electric vehicles and as stationary power sources. Businesses Jaguar Land Rover, Denchi Power, 3M, Potenza, Lifeline and Tri-Wall are pooling resources with academics and experts at the University of Warwick and the Health and Safety Executive to ensure public safety in the age of electric motoring. Electrically-powered vehicles and battery storage installations thankfully have a good safety record in the UK, but engineers and academics involved in battery design are taking no chances. Lithium-Ion battery cells have the potential to catch fire aggressively, and with consumers demanding that batteries give them further range and faster charging, there is an urgent need to develop an understanding of how such ""thermal runaway"" (TR) events may be triggered, suppressed and contained. The use of improved prevention materials, methods and mechanisms and a focus on identifying and detecting all early signs of risks, will ensure that fires can be prevented, or if necessary isolated and suppressed before they spread. Project LIBRIS seeks to improve understanding of the range of potential causes of TR in individual battery cells and through scaling up tests and scientific understanding, develop better computational models for assessing the spread of TR within battery packs. The team will use real vehicle and stationary Lithium-Ion battery designs and applications to model theoretical work and will take forward the most effective innovations into newly designed packs which will be tested to make sure that the inventions actually work. The group will then use this experience to develop standard tests for assessing the effectiveness of any future battery fire prevention mechanisms, thus assisting the next generation of work on this vital issue. The project will lead to better battery pack design and control software, better fire sensing equipment, more use of innovative flame-retardant materials and better packaging for batteries in transport and during storage. It will create business opportunities and investment in the UK, whilst also contributing to public safety. It will also build UK public sector capability to influence future international safety standards and regulations, so that safety remains paramount, but is science-based and not used as an artificial excuse for trade barriers."

"**The Faraday Challenge (FC) Round 2 is designed to support the creation of a viable UK electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain with an emphasis on safety of Lithium Ion Batteries (LIBs). A major known concern relating to the use, transportation and storage of LIBs is the need to ""eliminate _thermal runaway_ risks for enhanced safety"". PreLIBS (Preliminary feasibility study into Lithium Ion Battery Safety) aims to develop an understanding of key areas linked to this area. The study will act as a precursor for further research.** It is envisaged that the industrial benefits would include: * Manufacturers taking Lithium-Ion battery safety responsibly and benefiting from enhanced solutions to address Thermal Runaway and subsequent Thermal Propagation mitigation strategies * The ability to predictively model fire propagation would allow the optimisation of solutions -- delivering lighter weight and lower cost without reducing safety * Encouragement of an increased uptake of EVs, providing greater efficiencies in use over ICEs * UK LIB safety testing at HSL would give UK manufacturers an early advantage in taking these technologies to market **The PreLIBS team is made up of a consortium with members from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Health and Executive, Science Division (HSL), Warwick Fire, Potenza Technology, Lifeline Fire and Safety Systems Ltd (Lifeline) and 3M UK PLC (3M); knowledge and expertise would be pooled to navigate the challenge. A review of existing literature would be conducted with a focus on Standards & Regulations. Data from a preliminary body of test and modelling work, which would provide initial guidance for sensing and mitigation solutions, considering a variety of potential materials.****Key deliverables from the PreLIBS study would include:** * **Guidance on navigating and evidence to inform the standards** * **Analysis of sensing and detection methods** * **Evaluation of material effects in thermal runaway** * **Cell and cell group data to inform modelling and material design** **Industry, including battery manufacturers and organisations using batteries in their products, is actively seeking information about how to integrate battery safety into their products, processes, and procedures. These concerns need to be addressed now to ensure that safety issues do not become barriers to the effective and safe deployment of LIB technology for EVs.**"