EVALUATION OF HOLLOW, GLASS MICROSPHERES USED AS AN ADDITIVE IN POSITIVE, LEAD-ACID-BATTERY PASTE

New materials and electrode designs provide the possibility for dramatically improving the performance of lead/acid batteries. This paper investigates the use of lightweight, hollow, glass microspheres as a filler in the positive paste of lead/acid batteries. The paste density for this study was varied from 1.53 to 4.27 g cm-3 where the low number is associated with a high loading of glass microspheres. All the plates fabricated exhibited good mechanical properties. The capacity (ampere hour) performance of the paste was evaluated with plates having similar thicknesses and porosities. The utilization of the paste, defined as the ampere hours discharged divided by the stoichiometric capacity of the paste, was plotted against the specific rate, defined as A g-1 of paste. The data show that at the higher specific rates, the plates with glass microspheres performed much better than those without glass microspheres. The data also suggest that there is an optimum loading for the glass microspheres in the paste.