Short answer: UN 38.3 is the transport-safety test series every lithium cell and battery design must pass before it can be shipped. It has eight tests (T.1–T.8). It does not include a thermal runaway propagation test, so passing UN 38.3 says nothing about how a pack behaves when one cell fails.
The eight tests
| Test | Name | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| T.1 | Altitude simulation | Cells and batteries |
| T.2 | Thermal test (temperature cycling) | Cells and batteries |
| T.3 | Vibration | Cells and batteries |
| T.4 | Shock | Cells and batteries |
| T.5 | External short circuit | Cells and batteries |
| T.6 | Impact / crush | Cells |
| T.7 | Overcharge | Rechargeable batteries |
| T.8 | Forced discharge | Cells |
Manufacturers and distributors must also be able to provide a UN 38.3 test summary for the battery design.
What it means for barrier materials
Barrier materials do not affect UN 38.3 directly, but the battery must be retested if its design changes in ways the regulations treat as significant. Changing barrier materials inside a battery during development should be planned with transport testing in mind.
Sources
- UNECE, Manual of Tests and Criteria, section 38.3 (dangerous goods pages): unece.org