Interview with Roman Vanecek, Dow
“Silicone gaskets offer excellent compression set resistance”
Roman Vanecek has been with the materials science company since 2004. Before joining Dow, he worked as an R&D engineer at Fraunhofer FEP.
Roman Vanecek
As EV packs become more integrated, fire protection must be designed around cells, venting and production. Dow Automotive Application Scientist Roman Vanecek explains how silicone materials support safer battery systems
Battery safety is becoming a design issue long before cells, modules and packs reach series production. Fire-protection materials have to fit cell chemistry, pack architecture, venting concepts, thermal propagation requirements and industrial application processes.
Roman Vanecek, Automotive Application Scientist at Dow, works on material solutions for EV battery systems and will give the keynote “Advancing EV Battery Safety Through Material Innovation” at the Automotive Battery Conference 2026 in Munich.
Ahead of the event, we spoke with Vanecek about fire-protection materials, silicone performance over the vehicle lifetime and the need to involve material suppliers before key packaging decisions are locked in.
ADT: The Automotive Battery Conference 2026 agenda spans resilience, scalable manufacturing, battery safety, lifecycle value and charging. Which issue will most decisively shape the battery and e-mobility industry over the next five years, and why?
I believe the most decisive issue will be the ability to significantly reduce development and industrialisation timelines while maintaining safety and cost competitiveness. OEMs must bring new battery technologies to market faster than ever, which requires readily deployable material solutions, strong system-level understanding paired with the ability to scale, and more standardised validation methods, particularly for battery fire safety. The companies that can accelerate innovation-to-production cycles will gain the greatest competitive advantage.
Which function should fire-protection materials primarily optimise at pack level: delaying heat transfer, containing flames and particles, maintaining electrical insulation, directing vent gases or preserving structural integrity?
There is no single primary function that applies to all battery pack designs. The required performance of fire-protection materials depends heavily on the architecture of the module and pack. In many designs, the main objective is to delay heat transfer and slow down thermal propagation, providing additional time for detection, mitigation and occupant safety. In other configurations, fire-protection materials act primarily as thermal barriers, protecting adjacent cells from the heat generated by a failing cell and preventing the spread of thermal runaway.
Modern battery packs are increasingly designed to manage energy release in a controlled manner, with hot gases directed through dedicated venting and exhaust systems. In these cases, fire-protection materials must not only protect neighbouring cells but also support the venting strategy by containing flames and hot particles, maintaining electrical insulation, and protecting ventilation channels and surrounding components from extreme thermal loads.
Therefore, fire-protection materials should be optimised as part of the overall battery safety concept. The relative importance of heat shielding, flame and particle containment, electrical insulation, vent-gas management and structural integrity depends on the specific pack design and thermal runaway mitigation strategy.
How do ageing, compression, vibration, humidity and repeated thermal cycling change the fire-protection performance of silicones and other protective materials over a vehicle lifetime?
Silicone-based materials are widely selected for EV battery fire protection because they maintain their performance exceptionally well under the environmental stresses encountered throughout a vehicle’s lifetime. Their inherent thermal stability allows them to retain critical properties over a broad temperature range, even after prolonged exposure to heat, humidity and thermal cycling.
For sealing and cushioning applications, silicone gaskets and compression pads are known for their excellent compression set resistance, enabling them to maintain sealing force and gap-filling capability over many years of service. This helps preserve the intended thermal and fire-protection function despite continuous compression and vibration loads. Silicone adhesives and fire-protection materials can also be engineered to provide durable adhesion to battery cell, module and pack substrates.
Strong adhesion minimises the risk of delamination or crack formation during vibration, shock, and repeated thermal expansion and contraction, thereby maintaining the integrity of the fire-protection system. Silicones also maintain good adhesion to various substrates after many years, as proven in accelerated ageing tests. Compared with many alternative organic materials, silicones generally exhibit very low degradation under environmental ageing conditions. As a result, their thermal insulation, sealing and fire-protection performance remain largely unchanged throughout the vehicle lifetime, providing a reliable and durable solution for EV battery safety applications.
Where is the optimum between more fire-protection material and changes to cell spacing, cooling, venting or pack structure, and how early must that trade-off be fixed to avoid redesign?
This question is best answered by OEMs and battery manufacturers, as the optimum solution depends on the overall cell, module and pack architecture. Fire protection should not rely on a single measure. Instead, safety is achieved through a balanced combination of cell spacing, cooling strategy, venting design, structural elements and dedicated fire-protection materials. From a materials supplier perspective, the most important factor is to involve all stakeholders as early as possible in the development process. Early collaboration between OEMs, battery manufacturers, material suppliers, dispensing equipment manufacturers and test institutes enables the evaluation of different design concepts before key packaging decisions are locked in. The Dow Silicones toolbox allows us to tailor the silicone material as needed, as both low and high thermal conductivity can be achieved depending on the specific application.
You emphasise early collaboration before key packaging decisions are locked in. Which sessions in the wider conference agenda are most relevant from a materials perspective, and what would you ask those speakers?
The topic of battery production for the BMW i7 intersects with our own work. I would ask how the application of materials, especially chemicals, is organised at pack and module level. For Siemens and its battery simulation workflow using 3D, 1D and AI methods, I would ask how early in the battery development process material properties should be integrated into digital-twin models, and which material parameters have the greatest influence on safety predictions and thermal propagation outcomes. For Fraunhofer EMI and its high-speed X-ray imaging of thermal runaway, I would ask which previously hidden thermal-runaway mechanisms material developers should focus on when designing next-generation thermal barriers and fire-protection solutions.
For SurTec and its work on leakage prevention in EV battery systems, I would ask how the balance is evolving between sealing technologies and multifunctional materials that provide sealing, thermal management and fire protection simultaneously as battery systems become larger and more structurally integrated. For Webasto and its work on immersion cooling, I would ask whether future battery architectures will reduce the need for passive fire-protection materials, or whether advanced cooling systems and fire-protection materials will continue to evolve as complementary safety layers.
For Dräxlmaier and its focus on resilience in battery development, I would ask what the biggest bottleneck is that prevents faster deployment of new battery materials into production programmes: performance validation, safety certification, manufacturing readiness or supply-chain robustness. For Volkswagen and Rimac, in the context of battery manufacturing, I would ask which material innovations over the next five years could have the greatest impact on reducing battery-system cost while simultaneously improving safety and manufacturability. More generally, I would ask what the biggest bottleneck is that prevents faster deployment of new battery materials into production programmes: performance validation, safety certification, manufacturing readiness or supply-chain robustness.
