Explore the profound industry impact of the newly released GB/T 47613-2026 national standard for battery thermal insulation pads. Discover how SkyBoys, as a core standard drafter, is redefining industrial and EV thermal protection with advanced water-based film aerogel technology featuring 0.021 W/m·K thermal conductivity and UL94-5VA fire resistance.
Introduction: A Historic Milestone in Battery Thermal Management
The rapid global expansion of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) and Energy Storage System (ESS) sectors has brought unprecedented advancements in high-density energy technology. However, this progress is inevitably accompanied by a highly complex engineering challenge: the catastrophic risk of battery thermal runaway. As battery packs become denser and charging speeds reach extreme velocities, the passive safety materials designed to prevent fire propagation have evolved from optional upgrades into the most critical components of system design.
On May 25, 2026, a historic milestone was achieved in the realm of industrial safety. The relevant national authorities officially released **GB/T 47613-2026, the “Test Method for Thermal Protection Performance of Thermal Insulation Pads”. This marks the first-ever national-level testing standard specifically targeting the thermal protection performance of power battery insulation pads in China.
SkyBoys (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd., a globally recognized leader in aerogel composite materials, was deeply involved in the entire drafting and compilation process of this groundbreaking standard. By actively contributing its extensive technical expertise, real-world testing data, and advanced material science, SkyBoys is empowering the industry’s standardization and solidifying the foundation for next-generation energy security. This comprehensive technical article provides a deep dive into the critical significance of the new GB/T 47613-2026 standard, the engineering challenges of battery thermal management, and why advanced aerogel insulation represents the definitive future of industrial thermal protection.
1. Deep Dive: The Unprecedented Significance of the GB/T 47613-2026 National Standard
For automotive engineers, ESS developers, and procurement managers, specifying the correct thermal insulation material has historically been a complex, ambiguous, and highly risky endeavor. The release of GB/T 47613-2026 is not merely a bureaucratic update; it is a fundamental restructuring of how passive thermal safety is evaluated, engineered, and procured.
The Dangers of a Non-Standardized Market
Prior to the release of this national standard, the power battery and energy storage insulation sectors operated in a “wild west” environment. There was a glaring lack of unified, application-specific testing protocols that accurately reflected the actual working conditions of a failing battery.
Different manufacturers and testing facilities relied on disparate, often inadequate methodologies. An insulation pad might successfully pass a basic vertical open-flame test in a laboratory, but fail catastrophically when subjected to the intense heat and mechanical pressure of an actual venting lithium-ion cell. This lack of a standardized benchmark created severe industry pain points:
- Procurement Risks: Buyers could not accurately compare product performance across different vendors, often leading to the selection of sub-par materials based on flawed or irrelevant testing data.
- Suppressed Innovation: Premium manufacturers investing heavily in high-performance R&D found it difficult to differentiate their true value against cheaper, non-compliant alternatives.
- Systemic Safety Hazards: The inconsistent quality of thermal barriers embedded hidden, large-scale safety risks within multi-million-dollar ESS deployments and consumer electric vehicles.
A Unified Benchmark for Ultimate Safety
GB/T 47613-2026 resolves these critical issues by establishing a unified, authoritative, and scientifically rigorous evaluation system. The standard standardizes testing parameters, ensuring that every thermal insulation pad on the market is measured against the exact same extreme criteria. By mandating a testing methodology that replicates the terminal conditions of thermal runaway, the national standard actively drives out inferior materials, elevates the baseline for industry safety, and paves the way for high-end, standardized technological development.
2. The Science of the Standard: Replicating Real-World Thermal Runaway
The most significant technical breakthrough of the new GB/T 47613-2026 standard is its strict orientation toward terminal, real-world application scenarios. Standardizing a material’s resistance to a static open flame is insufficient; the new standard accurately simulates the violent physics of a battery failure.
The “Cold Plate Top-Pressure” Methodology
During the drafting process, SkyBoys heavily advocated for a testing methodology that mirrors the actual physical dynamics of a battery pack during a thermal event. Consequently, the standard prominently features the “cold plate top-pressure method.”
When a high-density lithium-ion cell enters thermal runaway, two extreme phenomena occur simultaneously:
- Extreme Thermal Stress: The failing cell generates superheated gas and plasma, rapidly driving localized temperatures well above 800°C to 1000°C.
- Massive Mechanical Stress: The internal chemical reaction causes the cell casing to bulge and expand violently, exerting immense mechanical crushing pressure on the adjacent thermal pad.
Traditional laboratory tests often evaluated thermal resistance without applying mechanical pressure, leading to severely skewed performance data. The cold plate top-pressure method tests the insulation pad by applying intense, sustained heat to one side while simultaneously subjecting it to high mechanical compression against a cooling plate. This effectively tests the material’s structural integrity, rebound capacity, and thermal conductivity while it is actively being crushed.
This highly stable, repeatable, and cost-effective testing protocol provides an authoritative scientific basis for R&D formulation, mass production quality control, and final product acceptance, perfectly aligning with SkyBoys’ philosophy of application-driven safety.
3. What Is Aerogel Insulation and How Does It Exceed the New Standard?
To pass the rigorous, dual-stress conditions of GB/T 47613-2026, materials must exhibit zero structural collapse under mechanical pressure and maintain near-zero thermal transfer under extreme heat. Advanced silica aerogel composites represent the absolute pinnacle of this capability.
The Nanoscale Architecture of Aerogel
Aerogel is a revolutionary nanomaterial formed by the polycondensation of colloidal particles into a nanostructure, where the liquid in the gel pores is replaced by gas through a special drying process without collapsing the skeleton. The resulting structure creates a three-dimensional porous network. Because the pores are smaller than the mean free path of gas molecules, convective heat transfer is virtually eliminated, while the tortuous nanoscale skeleton drastically extends the thermal conduction path, reducing solid heat transfer to an absolute minimum. This allows aerogel to achieve an astonishingly low thermal conductivity of ≤ 0.021 W/m·K to 0.023 W/m·K at room temperature.
SkyBoys’ Disruptive Water-Based Film Technology
Historically, widespread aerogel adoption was hindered by high manufacturing costs, environmental hazards associated with supercritical ethanol drying, and physical brittleness. SkyBoys revolutionized the industry by developing a proprietary “water-based film” technology.
By utilizing a chemical film formulation as a coating carrier, the aerogel deeply penetrates and permanently locks into substrates like fiberglass or ceramic fiber felts. This process completely replaces supercritical ethanol drying with a high-temperature, ambient-pressure process, eliminating explosion risks and drastically reducing production costs.
Crucially, this technology yields a material that boasts a compression rebound rate of >90%. This means SkyBoys’ aerogel can effortlessly absorb the mechanical swelling of battery cells tested under the new GB standard, rebounding without losing its structural integrity. Furthermore, in extreme tests conducted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), SkyBoys’ 10mm aerogel products withstood a direct 1000°C flame for 30 minutes without burning through, showcasing an unprecedented physical thermal barrier.
4. Technical Comparison: Aerogel vs. Legacy Insulation Materials
To understand why advanced aerogel is rapidly replacing legacy materials in industrial and EV applications under the new regulatory framework, engineers must examine the comparative data. Traditional materials force a dangerous compromise between thermal efficiency, thickness, and fire safety. Water-based film aerogel eliminates this compromise entirely.
Engineering Material Comparison Table
| Performance Indicators | Advanced Aerogel Felt (SkyBoys) | Rigid Polyurethane Foam | Molded Polystyrene | Rock Wool Felt | Glass Wool Felt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Temp (°C) | -200 ~ 1500 | -65 ~ 80 | < 70 | less than or equal to 400 | less than or equal to 350 |
| Thermal Conductivity | 0.020 W/m·K | 0.023 W/m·K | 0.03 ~ 0.045 W/m·K | 0.044 W/m·K | 0.046 W/m·K |
| Combustibility | Non-combustible | Flammable | Flammable | Non-combustible | Non-combustible |
| Fire Safety Rating | UL94-5VA / V-0 | Varies (often fails) | Varies (often fails) | N/A | N/A |
| Water Absorption | Hydrophobic (>98%) | 0.118 kg/m³ | 0.15 kg/m³ | High | High |
| Compression Rebound | 90% | Low | Low | Medium (Prone to settling) | Medium (Prone to settling) |
Data Insights: While traditional foams are highly flammable, and mineral wools suffer from massive water absorption leading to thermal decay, aerogel provides the lowest thermal conductivity in its class while maintaining absolute non-combustibility and exceptional hydrophobic performance (>98% water repellency).
5. Expanding Applications in the Industrial and Energy Sectors
The strict implementation of GB/T 47613-2026 will undoubtedly accelerate the adoption of high-performance aerogel across multiple sectors that demand absolute thermal security and regulatory compliance.
5.1 Energy Storage Systems (ESS)
Energy storage systems represent massive, high-density concentrations of lithium-ion batteries. In these environments, an uncontained thermal event can result in catastrophic facility loss. Aerogel currently constitutes the core protective material for these systems. Notably, ESS applications account for 90% of the industry order distribution for SkyBoys. By inserting aerogel padding between cells and modules, thermal events are effectively isolated, protecting multi-million-dollar infrastructure investments and ensuring grid stability.
5.2 EV Battery Systems and Ultra-Fast Charging
As the automotive industry pushes the boundaries of ultra-fast charging—such as the 9-minute flash charging utilized in BYD’s second-generation blade battery—the heat generated within the battery pack increases exponentially. SkyBoys’ aerogel materials, explicitly utilized to solve the extreme thermal challenges of these 9-minute flash-charging batteries, act as an impenetrable thermal firewall. They successfully withstand 500 flash-charge cycles and simultaneous multi-cell short circuits without allowing the battery pack to catch fire or explode.
5.3 High-Temperature Industrial Equipment
Beyond batteries, aerogel is transforming heavy industry. In petrochemical facilities, high-temperature steam pipelines, and industrial furnaces, controlling heat loss is vital for both profitability and worker safety. Aerogel provides 3 to 5 times the insulation performance of traditional materials at the same thickness. Furthermore, its >98% hydrophobicity ensures that pipelines are protected from moisture, practically eliminating the risk of Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI).
6. Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, and Decarbonization
For modern EPC contractors and industrial decision-makers, material selection must align with global ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets and Net-Zero mandates. Aerogel is a powerful enabler of these sustainability goals.
Maximizing Volumetric Efficiency
Aerogel’s ultra-low thermal conductivity ($\le 0.021$ W/m·K) allows engineers to drastically reduce the thickness of the required insulation layer. In electric vehicles and energy storage containers, this space savings directly translates to higher volumetric energy density. More battery cells can be safely packed into a smaller footprint, enhancing the overall energy capacity and efficiency of the system without compromising the stringent safety margins required by the new GB standard.
Eco-Friendly Manufacturing
Traditional aerogel production relied heavily on supercritical drying using volatile, highly flammable organic solvents like ethanol, which posed significant environmental hazards and required expensive chemical-grade zoning. SkyBoys’ proprietary water-based film technology replaces these hazardous chemicals, creating a safe, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly production loop that requires standard industrial zoning rather than chemical zoning. This process emits no toxic or harmful substances, drastically lowers VOC emissions, and aligns seamlessly with global green manufacturing certifications. Furthermore, it reduces equipment investment costs by 83% and shortens construction cycles by 75%, making advanced insulation economically viable for large-scale industrial deployment.
Conclusion: Securing the Future of Energy with Standardized Safety
The official release of the GB/T 47613-2026 national standard marks a definitive turning point for the new energy and industrial thermal management sectors. By establishing rigorous, real-world testing methodologies like the cold plate top-pressure method, the industry is unequivocally shifting away from inadequate legacy materials toward solutions that offer zero-compromise safety.
Since its inception, safeguarding energy security has been the immutable mission of SkyBoys. Deeply participating in the formulation and drafting of this national standard is a testament to the company’s technical authority and its commitment to empowering the industry’s healthy, highly regulated development. Moving forward, SkyBoys will continue to drive technological iterations, producing UL94-5VA rated, 0.021 W/m·K aerogel composites that not only meet but exceed the highest national and international regulatory requirements.
For EPC contractors, battery engineers, and procurement managers, the directive is clear: adapting to the new regulatory landscape requires transitioning to next-generation materials capable of withstanding the extreme thermal and mechanical demands of modern energy systems.
Ready to upgrade your thermal management strategy to meet the new national standards?
Contact our technical engineering team today to request a customized aerogel thermal solution, access detailed testing data, or get a comprehensive quote for your next industrial or energy storage project.
Abstract
- Aerogel insulation materials
- GB/T 47613-2026 standard
- Battery thermal runaway protection
- Thermal insulation pads for EV
- Industrial thermal management solutions
- Low thermal conductivity materials (0.021 W/m·K)
- UL94-5VA fire resistant insulation
- Energy storage system (ESS) fire safety
- Water-based film aerogel technology
- Battery pack passive safety materials
- Industrial pipeline insulation systems