13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

Thermal runaway
Thermal runaway occurs in situations where an increase in temperature
changes the conditions in a way that causes a further increase in
temperature, often leading to a destructive result. It is a kind of
uncontrolled positive feedback.

In other words, "thermal runaway" describes a process which is accelerated

by increased temperature, in turn releasing energy that further increases
temperature. In chemistry (and chemical engineering), it is associated with
strongly exothermic reactions that are accelerated by temperature rise. In
electrical engineering, thermal runaway is typically associated with
increased current flow and power dissipation, although exothermic
chemical reactions can be of concern here too. Thermal runaway can occur
in civil engineering, notably when the heat released by large amounts of
curing concrete is not controlled. In astrophysics, runaway nuclear fusion Diagram of thermal runaway.
reactions in stars can lead to nova and several types of supernova
explosions, and also occur as a less dramatic event in the normal evolution
of solar mass stars, the "helium flash".

There are also concerns regarding global warming that a global average increase of 3–4 degrees Celsius above the
preindustrial baseline could lead to a further unchecked increase in surface temperatures. For example, releases of
methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than CO2, from wetlands, melting permafrost and continental margin seabed
clathrate deposits could be subject to positive feedback.[1][2]

Contents
Chemical engineering
Microwave heating
Electrical engineering
Semiconductors
Bipolar junction transistors (BJTs)
Power MOSFETs
Metal oxide varistors (MOVs)
Tantalum capacitors
Digital logic
Batteries
Astrophysics
Helium flashes in red giant stars
Novae
X-ray bursts
Type Ia supernovae
Pair-instability supernovae
Comparison to nonrunaway supernovae
See also
References
External links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 1/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

Chemical engineering
Thermal runaway is also called thermal explosion in chemical engineering, or runaway reaction in organic
chemistry. It is a process by which an exothermic reaction goes out of control: the reaction rate increases due to an
increase in temperature, causing a further increase in temperature and hence a further rapid increase in the reaction
rate. This has contributed to industrial chemical accidents, most notably the 1947 Texas City disaster from overheated
ammonium nitrate in a ship's hold, and the 1976 explosion of zoalene, in a drier, at King's Lynn.[3] Frank-Kamenetskii
theory provides a simplified analytical model for thermal explosion. Chain branching is an additional positive
feedback mechanism which may also cause temperature to skyrocket because of rapidly increasing reaction rate.

Most chemical reactions produce some heat, so many industrial-scale and oil refinery processes have some level of risk
of thermal runaway. These include hydrocracking, hydrogenation, alkylation (SN2), oxidation, metalation and
nucleophilic aromatic substitution. For example, oxidation of cyclohexane into cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone and
ortho-xylene into phthalic anhydride have led to catastrophic explosions when reaction control failed.

Thermal runaway may result from unwanted exothermic side reaction(s) that begin at higher temperatures, following
an initial accidental overheating of the reaction mixture. This scenario was behind the Seveso disaster, where thermal
runaway heated a reaction to temperatures such that in addition to the intended 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, poisonous
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin was also produced, and was vented into the environment after the reactor's
rupture disk burst.[4]

Thermal runaway is most often caused by failure of the reactor vessel's cooling system. Failure of the mixer can result
in localized heating, which initiates thermal runaway. Similarly, in flow reactors, localized insufficient mixing causes
hotspots to form, wherein thermal runaway conditions occur, which causes violent blowouts of reactor contents and
catalysts. Incorrect equipment component installation is also a common cause. Many chemical production facilities
are designed with high-volume emergency venting, a measure to limit the extent of injury and property damage when
such accidents occur.

At large scale, it is unsafe to "charge all reagents and mix", as is done in laboratory scale. This is because the amount of
reaction scales with the cube of the size of the vessel (V ∝ r³), but the heat transfer area scales with the square of the
size (A ∝ r²), so that the heat production-to-area ratio scales with the size (V/A ∝ r). Consequently, reactions that
easily cool fast enough in the laboratory can dangerously self-heat at ton scale. In 2007, this kind of erroneous
procedure caused an explosion of a 2,400 U.S. gallons (9,100 L)-reactor used to metalate methylcyclopentadiene with
metallic sodium, causing the loss of four lives and parts of the reactor being flung 400 feet (120 m) away.[5][6] Thus,
industrial scale reactions prone to thermal runaway are preferably controlled by the addition of one reagent at a rate
corresponding to the available cooling capacity.

Some laboratory reactions must be run under extreme cooling, because they are very prone to hazardous thermal
runaway. For example, in Swern oxidation, the formation of sulfonium chloride must be performed in a cooled system
(–30 °C), because at room temperature the reaction undergoes explosive thermal runaway.[6]

The UK Chemical Reaction Hazards Forum[7] publishes analysis of previously-unreported chemical accidents to assist
the education of the scientific and engineering community, with the aim of preventing similar occurrences elsewhere.
Almost 150 such reports are available to view as of January 2009.

Microwave heating
Microwaves are used for heating of various materials in cooking and various industrial processes. The rate of heating
of the material depends on the energy absorption, which depends on the dielectric constant of the material. The
dependence of dielectric constant on temperature varies for different materials; some materials display significant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 2/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

increase with increasing temperature. This behavior, when the material gets exposed to microwaves, leads to selective
local overheating, as the warmer areas are better able to accept further energy than the colder areas—potentially
dangerous especially for thermal insulators, where the heat exchange between the hot spots and the rest of the
material is slow. These materials are called thermal runaway materials. This phenomenon occurs in some ceramics.

Electrical engineering
Some electronic components develop lower resistances or lower triggering voltages (for nonlinear resistances) as their
internal temperature increases. If circuit conditions cause markedly increased current flow in these situations,
increased power dissipation may raise the temperature further by Joule heating. A vicious circle or positive feedback
effect of thermal runaway can cause failure, sometimes in a spectacular fashion (e.g. electrical explosion or fire). To
prevent these hazards, well-designed electronic systems typically incorporate current limiting protection, such as
thermal fuses, circuit breakers, or PTC current limiters.

To handle larger currents, circuit designers may connect multiple lower-capacity devices (e.g. transistors, diodes, or
MOVs) in parallel. This technique can work well, but is susceptible to a phenomenon called current hogging, in
which the current is not shared equally across all devices. Typically, one device may have a slightly lower resistance,
and thus draws more current, heating it more than its sibling devices, causing its resistance to drop further. The
electrical load ends up funneling into a single device, which then rapidly fails. Thus, an array of devices may end up no
more robust than its weakest component.

The current-hogging effect can be reduced by carefully matching the characteristics of each paralleled device, or by
using other design techniques to balance the electrical load. However, maintaining load balance under extreme
conditions may not be straightforward. Devices with an intrinsic positive temperature coefficient (PTC) of electrical
resistance are less prone to current hogging, but thermal runaway can still occur because of poor heat sinking or other
problems.

Many electronic circuits contain special provisions to prevent thermal runaway. This is most often seen in transistor
biasing arrangements for high-power output stages. However, when equipment is used above its designed ambient
temperature, thermal runaway can still occur in some cases. This occasionally causes equipment failures in hot
environments, or when air cooling vents are blocked.

Semiconductors
Silicon shows a peculiar profile, in that its electrical resistance increases with temperature up to about 160 °C, then
starts decreasing, and drops further when the melting point is reached. This can lead to thermal runaway phenomena
within internal regions of the semiconductor junction; the resistance decreases in the regions which become heated
above this threshold, allowing more current to flow through the overheated regions, in turn causing yet more heating
in comparison with the surrounding regions, which leads to further temperature increase and resistance decrease.
This leads to the phenomenon of current crowding and formation of current filaments (similar to current hogging, but
within a single device), and is one of the underlying causes of many semiconductor junction failures.

Bipolar junction transistors (BJTs)

Leakage current increases significantly in bipolar transistors (especially germanium-based bipolar transistors) as they
increase in temperature. Depending on the design of the circuit, this increase in leakage current can increase the
current flowing through a transistor and thus the power dissipation, causing a further increase in collector-to-emitter
leakage current. This is frequently seen in a push–pull stage of a class AB amplifier. If the pull-up and pull-down
transistors are biased to have minimal crossover distortion at room temperature, and the biasing is not temperature-
compensated, then as the temperature rises both transistors will be increasingly biased on, causing current and power
to further increase, and eventually destroying one or both devices.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 3/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

One rule of thumb to avoid thermal runaway is to keep the operating point of a BJT so that Vce ≤ 1/2Vcc

Another practice is to mount a thermal feedback sensing transistor or other device on the heat sink, to control the
crossover bias voltage. As the output transistors heat up, so does the thermal feedback transistor. This in turn causes
the thermal feedback transistor to turn on at a slightly lower voltage, reducing the crossover bias voltage, and so
reducing the heat dissipated by the output transistors.

If multiple BJT transistors are connected in parallel (which is typical in high current applications), a current hogging
problem can occur. Special measures must be taken to control this characteristic vulnerability of BJTs.

In power transistors (which effectively consist of many small transistors in parallel), current hogging can occur
between different parts of the transistor itself, with one part of the transistor becoming more hot than the others. This
is called second breakdown, and can result in destruction of the transistor even when the average junction
temperature seems to be at a safe level.

Power MOSFETs
Power MOSFETs typically increase their on-resistance with temperature. Under some circumstances, power
dissipated in this resistance causes more heating of the junction, which further increases the junction temperature, in
a positive feedback loop. As a consequence, power MOSFETs have stable and unstable regions of operation.[8]
However, the increase of on-resistance with temperature helps balance current across multiple MOSFETs connected
in parallel, so current hogging does not occur. If a MOSFET transistor produces more heat than the heatsink can
dissipate, then thermal runaway can still destroy the transistors. This problem can be alleviated to a degree by
lowering the thermal resistance between the transistor die and the heatsink. See also Thermal Design Power.

Java applet demo of MOSFET thermal runaway (https://www.ipes.ethz.ch/mod/lesson/view.php?id=18)

Metal oxide varistors (MOVs)

Metal oxide varistors typically develop lower resistance as they heat up. If connected directly across an AC or DC
power bus (a common usage for protection against electrical transients), a MOV which has developed a lowered trigger
voltage can slide into catastrophic thermal runaway, possibly culminating in a small explosion or fire.[9] To prevent
this possibility, fault current is typically limited by a thermal fuse, circuit breaker, or other current limiting device.

Tantalum capacitors
Tantalum capacitors are under some conditions prone to self-destruction by thermal runaway. The capacitor typically
consists of a sintered tantalum sponge acting as the anode, a manganese dioxide cathode, and a dielectric layer of
tantalum pentoxide created on the tantalum sponge surface by anodizing. It may happen that the tantalum oxide layer
has weak spots that undergo dielectric breakdown during a voltage spike. The tantalum sponge then comes into direct
contact with the manganese dioxide, and increased leakage current causes localized heating; usually, this drives an
endothermic chemical reaction that produces manganese(III) oxide and regenerates (self-heals) the tantalum oxide
dielectric layer.

However, if the energy dissipated at the failure point is high enough, a self-sustaining exothermic reaction can start,
similar to the thermite reaction, with metallic tantalum as fuel and manganese dioxide as oxidizer. This undesirable
reaction will destroy the capacitor, producing smoke and possibly flame.[10]

Therefore, tantalum capacitors can be freely deployed in small-signal circuits, but application in high-power circuits
must be carefully designed to avoid thermal runaway failures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 4/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

Digital logic
The leakage current of logic switching transistors increases with temperature. In rare instances, this may lead to
thermal runaway in digital circuits. This is not a common problem, since leakage currents usually make up a small
portion of overall power consumption, so the increase in power is fairly modest — for an Athlon 64, the power
dissipation increases by about 10% for every 30 degrees Celsius.[11] For a device with a TDP of 100 W, for thermal
runaway to occur, the heat sink would have to have a thermal resistivity of over 3 K/W (kelvins per watt), which is
about 6 times worse than a stock Athlon 64 heat sink. (A stock Athlon 64 heat sink is rated at 0.34 K/W, although the
actual thermal resistance to the environment is somewhat higher, due to the thermal boundary between processor and
heatsink, rising temperatures in the case, and other thermal resistances..) Regardless, an inadequate heat sink with a
thermal resistance of over 0.5 to 1 K/W would result in the destruction of a 100 W device even without thermal
runaway effects.

Batteries
When handled improperly, or if manufactured defectively, some rechargeable batteries can experience thermal
runaway resulting in overheating. Sealed cells will sometimes explode violently if safety vents are overwhelmed or
nonfunctional.[12] Especially prone to thermal runaway are lithium-ion batteries, most markedly in the form of the
lithium polymer battery. Reports of exploding cellphones occasionally appear in newspapers. In 2006, batteries from
Apple, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell and other notebook manufacturers were recalled because of fire and
explosions.[13][14][15][16] The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the U.S.
Department of Transportation has established regulations regarding the carrying of certain types of batteries on
airplanes because of their instability in certain situations. This action was partially inspired by a cargo bay fire on a
UPS airplane.[17] One of the possible solutions is in using safer and less reactive anode (lithium titanates) and cathode
(lithium iron phosphate) materials — thereby avoiding the cobalt electrodes in many lithium rechargeable cells —
together with non-flammable electrolytes based on ionic liquids.

Astrophysics
Runaway thermonuclear reactions can occur in stars when nuclear fusion is ignited in conditions under which the
pressure exerted by overlying layers of the star greatly exceeds thermal pressure, a situation that makes possible rapid
increases in temperature. Such a scenario may arise in stars containing degenerate matter, in which electron
degeneracy pressure rather than normal thermal pressure does most of the work of supporting the star against gravity,
and in stars undergoing implosion. In all cases, the imbalance arises prior to fusion ignition; otherwise, the fusion
reactions would be naturally regulated to counteract temperature changes and stabilize the star. When thermal
pressure is in equilibrium with overlying pressure, a star will respond to the increase in temperature and thermal
pressure due to initiation of a new exothermic reaction by expanding and cooling. A runaway reaction is only possible
when this response is inhibited.

Helium flashes in red giant stars

When stars in the 0.8–2.0 solar mass range exhaust the hydrogen in their cores and become red giants, the helium
accumulating in their cores reaches degeneracy before it ignites. When the degenerate core reaches a critical mass of
about 0.45 solar masses, helium fusion is ignited and takes off in a runaway fashion, called the helium flash, briefly
increasing the star's energy production to a rate 100 billion times normal. About 6% of the core is quickly converted
into carbon.[18] While the release is sufficient to convert the core back into normal plasma after a few seconds, it does
not disrupt the star,[19][20] nor immediately change its luminosity. The star then contracts, leaving the red giant phase
and continuing its evolution into a stable helium-burning phase.

Novae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 5/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

A nova results from runaway hydrogen fusion (via the CNO cycle) in the outer layer of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf
star. If a white dwarf has a companion star from which it can accrete gas, the material will accumulate in a surface
layer made degenerate by the dwarf's intense gravity. Under the right conditions, a sufficiently thick layer of hydrogen
is eventually heated to a temperature of 20 million K, igniting runaway fusion. The surface layer is blasted off the
white dwarf, increasing luminosity by a factor on the order of 50,000. The white dwarf and companion remain intact,
however, so the process can repeat.[21] A much rarer type of nova may occur when the outer layer that ignites is
composed of helium.[22]

X-ray bursts
Analogous to the process leading to novae, degenerate matter can also accumulate on the surface of a neutron star that
is accreting gas from a close companion. If a sufficiently thick layer of hydrogen accumulates, ignition of runaway
hydrogen fusion can then lead to an X-ray burst. As with novae, such bursts tend to repeat and may also be triggered
by helium or even carbon fusion.[23][24] It has been proposed that in the case of "superbursts", runaway breakup of
accumulated heavy nuclei into iron group nuclei via photodissociation rather than nuclear fusion could contribute the
majority of the energy of the burst.[24]

Type Ia supernovae
A type Ia supernova results from runaway carbon fusion in the core of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf star. If a white
dwarf, which is composed almost entirely of degenerate matter, can gain mass from a companion, the increasing
temperature and density of material in its core will ignite carbon fusion if the star's mass approaches the
Chandrasekhar limit. This leads to an explosion that completely disrupts the star. Luminosity increases by a factor of
greater than 5 billion. One way to gain the additional mass would be by accreting gas from a giant star (or even main
sequence) companion.[25] A second and apparently more common mechanism to generate the same type of explosion
is the merger of two white dwarfs.[25][26]

Pair-instability supernovae
A pair-instability supernova is believed to result from runaway oxygen fusion in the core of a massive, 130–250 solar
mass, low to moderate metallicity star.[27] According to theory, in such a star, a large but relatively low density core of
nonfusing oxygen builds up, with its weight supported by the pressure of gamma rays produced by the extreme
temperature. As the core heats further, the gamma rays eventually begin to pass the energy threshold needed for
collision-induced decay into electron-positron pairs, a process called pair production. This causes a drop in the
pressure within the core, leading it to contract and heat further, causing more pair production, a further pressure
drop, and so on. The core starts to undergo gravitational collapse. At some point this ignites runaway oxygen fusion,
releasing enough energy to obliterate the star. These explosions are rare, perhaps about one per 100,000 supernovae.

Comparison to nonrunaway supernovae

Not all supernovae are triggered by runaway nuclear fusion. Type Ib, Ic and type II supernovae also undergo core
collapse, but because they have exhausted their supply of atomic nuclei capable of undergoing exothermic fusion
reactions, they collapse all the way into neutron stars, or in the higher-mass cases, stellar black holes, powering
explosions by the release of gravitational potential energy. It is the absence of runaway fusion reactions that allows
such supernovae to leave behind compact stellar remnants.

See also
Cascading failure
Frank-Kamenetskii theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 6/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery problems (related to lithium-ion batteries)

Lithium Ion Batteries and Safety
Plug-in electric vehicle fire incidents (related to lithium-ion batteries)
UPS Flight 6 (a 2010 jet crash related to lithium-ion batteries in the cargo)

References
1. Clark, P.U.; et al. (December 2008). "Executive Summary". Abrupt Climate Change. A Report by the U.S. Climate
Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research (http://www.globalchange.gov/bro
wse/reports/sap-34-abrupt-climate-change). Reston, Virginia, USA: U.S. Geological Survey., pp. 163–201. Report
website (http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/final-report/default.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20130504113820/http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/final-report/default.htm) 2013-05-04
at the Wayback Machine.
2. IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes (http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2008/09/17/imp
acts-on-the-threshold-of-abrupt-climate-changes/), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory News Center, 17
September 2008
3. "The explosion at the Dow chemical factory, King's Lynn 27 June 1976" (https://www.icheme.org/communities/spe
cial-interest-groups/safety%20and%20loss%20prevention/resources/~/media/Documents/Subject%20Groups/Saf
ety_Loss_Prevention/HSE%20Accident%20Reports/The%20Explosion%20at%20Dow%20Kings%20Lynn.pdf)
(PDF). Health & Safety Executive. March 1977. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
4. Kletz, Trevor A. (2001). Learning from Accidents (https://books.google.com/books?id=zulmgUi5_aEC&pg=PA103
&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=0_0#PPA73,M1) (3rd ed.). Oxford U.K.: Gulf Professional. pp. 103–9. ISBN 978-0-
7506-4883-7.
5. Lowe, Derek (2009-09-18). "175 Times. And Then the Catastrophe" (https://web.archive.org/web/2015032004220
4/http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/09/18/175_times_and_then_the_catastrophe.php). Corante. Archived
from the original (http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2009/09/18/175_times_and_then_the_catastrophe.php) on
2015-03-20. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
6. Lowe, Derek (2008-04-30). "How Not To Do It: Diazomethane" (http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/200
8/04/30/how_not_to_do_it_diazomethane). Science Translational Magazine. American Association for the
Advancement of Science. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
7. UK Chemical Reaction Hazards Forum (http://www.crhf.org.uk)
8. Ferrara, A.; Steeneken, P. G.; Boksteen, B. K.; Heringa, A.; Scholten, A. J.; Schmitz, J.; Hueting, R. J. E.
(November 2015). "Physics-based stability analysis of MOS transistors". Solid-State Electronics. 113: 28–34.
doi:10.1016/j.sse.2015.05.010 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.sse.2015.05.010).
9. Brown, Kenneth (March 2004). "Metal Oxide Varistor Degradation" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110719023317/
http://www.iaei.org/magazine/2004/03/metal-oxide-varistor-degradation/). IAEI Magazine. Archived from the
original (http://www.iaei.org/magazine/2004/03/metal-oxide-varistor-degradation/) on 2011-07-19. Retrieved
2011-03-30.
10. http://www.avx.com/docs/techinfo/failure.pdf Failure modes of tantalum capacitors manufactured in different ways
11. LostCircuits, CPU Guide (http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/amd_venice/)
12. Finegan, D. P.; Scheel, M.; Robinson, J. B.; Tjaden, B.; Hunt, I.; Mason, T. J.; Millichamp, J.; Di Michiel, M.; Offer,
G. J.; Hinds, G.; Brett, D. J. L.; Shearing, P. R. (2015). "In-operando high-speed tomography of lithium-ion
batteries during thermal runaway" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423228). Nature
Communications. 6: 6924. doi:10.1038/ncomms7924 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fncomms7924). PMC 4423228
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423228)  . PMID 25919582 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubm
ed/25919582).
13. Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries (http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/24/technology/apple_recall/index.ht
m)
14. PC Notebook Computer Batteries Recalled Due to Fire and Burn Hazard (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prht
ml09/09035.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130108181246/https://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/pr
html09/09035.html) 2013-01-08 at the Wayback Machine.
15. Lenovo and IBM Announce Recall of ThinkPad Notebook Computer Batteries Due to Fire Hazard (http://www.cps
c.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06270.html)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 7/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

16. Dell laptop battery fires (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550)

17. PHMSA article on the UPS airplane fire (http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/fulltext/hzb0501.htm)
18. The End Of The Sun (http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/The%20Website/end.html)
19. Chapter 9: Post-main sequence evolution through helium burning (https://astro.uni-bonn.de/~nlanger/siu_web/sse
script/new/chapter9.pdf)
20. Dearborn, D. S. P.; Lattanzio, J. C.; Eggleton, P. P. (2006-03-01). "Three‐dimensional Numerical Experimentation
on the Core Helium Flash of Low‐Mass Red Giants". The Astrophysical Journal. 639 (1): 405–415. arXiv:astro-
ph/0512049 (https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0512049)  . Bibcode:2006ApJ...639..405D (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/
abs/2006ApJ...639..405D). doi:10.1086/499263 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F499263). ISSN 0004-637X (https://w
ww.worldcat.org/issn/0004-637X).
21. JPL/NASA (12 August 2010). "Fermi detects 'shocking' surprise from supernova's little cousin" (http://www.physor
g.com/news200849593.html). PhysOrg. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
22. Kato, M.; Hachisu, I. (December 2003). "V445 Puppis: Helium Nova on a Massive White Dwarf". The
Astrophysical Journal. 598 (2): L107–L110. arXiv:astro-ph/0310351 (https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310351)  .
Bibcode:2003ApJ...598L.107K (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ApJ...598L.107K). doi:10.1086/380597 (http
s://doi.org/10.1086%2F380597).
23. Cumming, A.; Bildsten, L. (2001-09-10). "Carbon flashes in the heavy-element ocean on accreting neutron stars"
(https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0107213). The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 559 (2): L127–L130. arXiv:astro-
ph/0107213 (https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0107213)  . Bibcode:2001ApJ...559L.127C (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/
abs/2001ApJ...559L.127C). doi:10.1086/323937 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F323937). Retrieved 2012-06-03.
24. Schatz, H.; Bildsten, L.; Cumming, A. (2003-01-03). "Photodisintegration-triggered Nuclear Energy Release in
Superbursts" (http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-4357/583/2/L87). The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 583 (2): L87–
L90. Bibcode:2003ApJ...583L..87S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ApJ...583L..87S). doi:10.1086/368107 (ht
tps://doi.org/10.1086%2F368107). Retrieved 2012-06-02.
25. Dilday, B.; Howell, D. A.; Cenko, S. B.; Silverman, J. M.; Nugent, P. E.; Sullivan, M.; Ben-Ami, S.; Bildsten, L.;
Bolte, M.; Endl, M.; Filippenko, A. V.; Gnat, O.; Horesh, A.; Hsiao, E.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Kirkman, D.; Maguire, K.;
Marcy, G. W.; Moore, K.; Pan, Y.; Parrent, J. T.; Podsiadlowski, P.; Quimby, R. M.; Sternberg, A.; Suzuki, N.;
Tytler, D. R.; Xu, D.; Bloom, J. S.; Gal-Yam, A.; Hook, I. M.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Law, N. M.; Ofek, E. O.; Polishook, D.;
Poznanski, D. (2012-08-24). "PTF 11kx: A Type Ia Supernova with a Symbiotic Nova Progenitor". Science. 337
(6097): 942–945. arXiv:1207.1306 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.1306)  . Bibcode:2012Sci...337..942D (http://adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/2012Sci...337..942D). doi:10.1126/science.1219164 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.12191
64). ISSN 0036-8075 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). PMID 22923575 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p
ubmed/22923575).
26. "NASA's Chandra Reveals Origin of Key Cosmic Explosions" (http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2010/type1a/).
Chandra X-ray Observatory web site. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. 17 February 2010. Retrieved
28 March 2012.
27. Gal-Yam, A.; Mazzali, P.; Ofek, E. O.; Nugent, P. E.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Quimby, R. M.; Filippenko, A.
V.; Cenko, S. B.; Chornock, R.; Waldman, R.; Kasen, D.; Sullivan, M.; Beshore, E. C.; Drake, A. J.; Thomas, R.
C.; Bloom, J. S.; Poznanski, D.; Miller, A. A.; Foley, R. J.; Silverman, J. M.; Arcavi, I.; Ellis, R. S.; Deng, J. (2009-
12-03). "Supernova 2007bi as a pair-instability explosion". Nature. 462 (7273): 624–627. arXiv:1001.1156 (https://
arxiv.org/abs/1001.1156)  . Bibcode:2009Natur.462..624G (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009Natur.462..624G).
doi:10.1038/nature08579 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature08579). ISSN 0028-0836 (https://www.worldcat.org/is
sn/0028-0836). PMID 19956255 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19956255).

External links
Safetycenter.navy.mil: Thermal runaway (http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20040223194202/http://www.safetycenter.n
avy.mil/media/mech/issues/summer03/thermalrunaway.htm)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thermal_runaway&oldid=822460250"

This page was last edited on 26 January 2018, at 14:15.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 8/9
13/03/2018 Thermal runaway - Wikipedia

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway 9/9