Dreamliner’s burnt out battery 'spewed out molten electrolytes', reveal investigators as planes remain grounded

Burnt out shell of battery from Japan Airlines Boeing 787 revealed



Investigators have taken device apart to figure out what went wrong

Batteries expert says he 'would not feel safe to fly in a Dreamliner'



The planes remain grounded worldwide as investigation continues



At first glance it looks more like smoke-stained debris from a house fire than a component from a $200 million passenger jet.



But this burnt out battery from a Japanese Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner which caught fire at Logan Airport in Boston earlier this month could hold the key to a technical problem which has grounded the entire multi-billion dollar fleet.

Experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have disassembled the device in a bid to discover the cause of the malfunction - but admitted yesterday they are no closer to reaching a conclusion.

Scroll down for video:



Investigation: The singed battery case from the Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 787 Dreamliner which caught fire in Boston is displayed inside an investigation lab at the NTSB Headquarters in Washington, DC

Probe: The state-of-the-art Dreamliner continues to be grounded as the investigation into the cause of the thermal damage continues

Burnt: The NTSB's Joseph Kolly, holds part of the badly fire-damaged battery casing from the plane involved in the Boston incident. The battery has been taken apart by experts in a bid to work out what went wrong

The NTSB said yesterday night that its investigation into the incident on January 7 is still in its 'early stages.'

Boeing’s fleet was grounded by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) just over a week after the fire in Boston, following a similar incident on board a 787 in Japan.

Deborah Hersman, head of the NTSB, described the incident in Boston as a 'very serious air safety concern', and that the body does 'not expect to see fire events onboard aircraft,' according to the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, batteries expert George Blomgren, who worked for Eveready for 40 years told CBS news that from what he knows about the incidents on board the Boeing 787s he would 'not fly in a Dreamliner tomorrow.'

'I just wouldn't feel that it was appropriate or safe,' he said.

Burnt out: The battery shows evidence of short-circuiting and a chemical reaction which can cause progressively hotter temperatures, federal accident investigators said

Probe: NTSB investigators and metallurgists examine parts of the disassembled battery which have been laid out on a table

Detailed: A member of the NTSB investigation team examines pieces of damaged electrode coils from the battery

The NTSB said that despite establishing that the lithium-ion device suffered a short circuit it still has to 'figure out why these events occurred.' The revelation is more bad news for Boeing as it means the worldwide fleet of Dreamliners remains grounded.

The Japan Airlines plane caught fire while sitting on the tarmac at Logan Airport. In a separate incident on January 16, an All Nippon Airways flight made an emergency landing in western Japan after a cockpit message warned of battery problems and a burning smell was detected in the cockpit and cabin.



An investigator in Japan at the time said the burned insides of the plane's lithium ion battery showed the battery received voltage in excess of its design limits.

Concern: NTSB chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman speaks during a press conference at the NTSB Headquarters in Washington, DC, yesterday

Incident: A 787 made a landing in Takamatsu after a burning smell was also detected in its cockpit. Both All Nippon Airlines and Japan Airlines have grounded their entire Dreamliner fleets



Hopes: Visitors admired the first production model of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it was unveiled to an audience of several thousand at Boeing's assembly plant in Everett, Washington

Technology: Spectators reach out to touch the fuselage of the first production model of the Dreamliner when it was launched. The jet was plagued with manufacturing delays and cost overruns

Since then, all 50 787s that Boeing has delivered to airlines' fleets have been grounded, and the manufacturer has halted deliveries of new planes until it can address the electrical problems.

European air safety bosses acted just hours after America’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued an ‘Emergency Airworthiness Directive’ to halt flights of the planes - the first time a fleet of aircraft was been grounded across the world in 34 years.



Boeing said lithium ion batteries 'best met the performance and design objectives of the 787' and that 'based on everything we know at this point, we have not changed our evaluation,' CBS news reports.



Complex: Parts for the flagship craft are constructed by firms around the world

Out of service: One of United Airlines six 787s sits on the tarmac at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston

The Dreamliner is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries. They charge faster and can be better moulded to space-saving shapes compared with other aeroplane batteries.



The battery fire is just one of a series of problems - including two fuel leaks, a wiring problem, brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window – to afflict the 787 which got off to a bad start when launched three years late.

Mike Sinnett, chief engineer on the 787, said earlier this month that the plane's batteries have operated through a combined 1.3 million hours and never had an internal fault.



He said they were built with multiple protections to ensure that failures 'don't put the airplane at risk'.