Lithium-ion batteries for electrical vehicle and large-scale energy storage applications have developed significantly in recent years. However, the safety issue is still a major technical challenge and has become a key factor retarding further deployment of lithium-ion batteries. Numerous experimental studies on the thermal stability of cathode materials have been performed to seek safer battery materials. In this work, a three-dimensional thermal model describing oven abuse processes of lithium-ion batteries was established to study the thermal stability and thermal safety of cathode materials. Five various cathode materials (i.e. LiCoO2, LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2, Li-1.1(Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)(0.9)O-2, LiMn2O4, and LiFePO4) were taken; their response to oven thermal abuse was simulated and discussed in detail. Simulation results show that the LiMn2O4 cell has the best thermal stability and the LiFePO4 cell has the best thermal safety of all the five various lithium-ion batteries. Effects of oven temperature on battery thermal behaviors during oven thermal abuses were particularly analyzed and the critical oven temperatures to trigger thermal runaway were obtained for these batteries as well. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.