Research Information System
International Conferences on Multi-Material Micro Manufacture, 4M/International Conferences on Micro Manufacturing, ICOMM 2009, Karlsruhe, Germany, 23 - 25 September 2009, vol.2009, pp.119-122
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are gaining popularity as a means for large scale energy production in many areas. They typically operate at temperatures between 800-1000°C. However, newer versions of the SOFC, called intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC), operate between 500-700°C. Because of this drastic change, the interconnect (IC) plates of the fuel cell can be made with metals instead of ceramics. This paper investigates the use of stainless steel powders to form porous IC plates and the effect of compacting temperature and pressure on the porosity and the formability of the IC plates. The conditions in which the powders would bond to the thin stainless steel substrate were also investigated; however, none of the cases yielded any success. SS 316L and 430L powders of 53-105 µm size were used in this study. The goal of using powders was to create micro-porous features on a large surface of the IC plates for advanced heat transfer purpose. Based on the results in this study, appropriate process windows for powder compaction of stainless steel 316L and 430L are given for good channel formation and surface porosity.