Abstract Title   Lithium-Ion Cell Screening: Non-Destructive And Destructive Physical Examination Abstract Author(s)   Ramesh Godithi, Celina Mikolajczak, John Harmon, Ming Wu Abstract Presenter   Ramesh Godithi Abstract   Abstract As part of a NASA pre-acceptance testing program for developing a Long Life Battery (LLB), Exponent was asked to conduct both destructive and non-destructive physical examinations of 18650 cylindrical lithium-ion cells from two manufacturers that had been identified as outliers by various screening techniques. Exponent used a computed tomography (CT scanning) technique to obtain cross sectional images of cell interiors. This technique revealed the presence of anomalies in cells from both manufacturers. Based on the findings from CT-scanning, destructive physical examination was performed to identify the anomalies within the cells. The destructive examination confirmed the presence of weld splatter resulting in metallic contamination in the cells from one manufacturer, and revealed the pitting corrosion of the cell caps from the second manufacturer. Follow-up CT-scanning analysis of cap corrosion in cells from various date codes has provided an estimate of corrosion progression over time This study showed that the non-destructive CT scanning technique can be used as an effective tool for determining physical defects in 18650 Li-ion cells.