WASHINGTON -- Tiny crystals that can cause lithium-ion batteries to short-circuit and fail are among areas under investigation in fire and smoke incidents on the Boeing 787, a federal agency said Tuesday.
"It's definitely something we're looking at," Kelly Nantel, spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said in an interview.The crystals, known as dendrites, aren't a central focus of the investigation, and the safety board hasn't found evidence of them in the battery that burned Jan. 7 aboard a 787 operated by Japan Airlines that had just landed in Boston, Nantel said.She also said investigators haven't seen evidence of the crystals in other batteries they have examined.Dendrites, which can impede electrical flow and cause overheating, are a known cause of battery failure, according to a 2010 article in the magazine Nature. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal first reported that investigators were trying to determine a link with the 787 incidents.The particles are among several areas under investigation that could have caused one of eight cells within the battery to short-circuit and burn, igniting adjacent cells, Nantel said.The safety board is looking into whether a manufacturing defect, the charging process or the battery design could have led to the fire, Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference Feb. 7.The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the 787 on Jan. 16 after a battery aboard another of the planes, this one operated by All Nippon Airways, smoldered and emitted smoke in Japan.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
