A REVIEW OF SOFT-LEAD SPECIFICATIONS IN THE LIGHT OF THE REQUIREMENTSOF VALVE-REGULATED LEAD ACID BATTERIES/

With the development of valve-regulated lead/acid (VRLA) technology an d its concomitant requirements in terms of the quality of the input ma terials, there is a need to review the status of the present pure-lead specifications as they appear in the majority of national standards f or lead. In this paper, four national standards for soft lead are comp ared with a list of elements that have been identified and reported in the literature as being harmful to the VRLA battery system at impurit y levels. None of the four standards is found to limit the presence of all harmful impurities. An alternative specification that meets the n eeds of VRLA technology as they are currently understood has been prop osed. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.