Development of Open Pore Copper Foams to Use as Bipolar Plates in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Stacks

Abstract

Abstract:Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stacks contain fluid flow plates, generally known as bipolar plates; which are traditionally made from graphite based materials. Brittleness of graphite enforces manufacturers to fabricate bipolar plates in great thicknesses which severely reduce the stack's power to weight ratio. Therefore, recently the use of low permeability open pore metallic foams has been attended. This survey is focused on development of powder metallurgy method to manufacture copper foams for use as bipolar plates. After three-point flexural tests and air permeability measurements, it was shown that powder metallurgy method based on using space holder agent has high capability to produce functionally graded foams in order to substitute conventional stack fluid field plates.

The Study of Copper Powder Sintering for Porous Wick Structures with High Capillary Force

“…ials 2023, 16, x FOR PEER REVIEW shortest lengths of the green or yellow sections and the heights w ond. The image illustrates how the height of alcohol changes ove the capillary force by measuring the alcohol height (h) and rising pillary force is proportional to both according to Equation (6). The height (h) of 200D samples with various forming agent contents a function of time (s).…”

“…The LCS technique and SDP process are used in this study to create open-pore cell Cu foam. According to several researchers [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], potassium carbonates (K 2 CO 3 ) are suitable carbonates to be used as pore-forming agents. This is because K 2 CO 3 is soluble in water and has a melting point that is higher than the temperature at which copper begins to sinter.…”

Effect of Cr content on the corrosion resistance of Ni–Cr–P coatings for PEMFC metallic bipolar plates

“…Metals such as titanium [3], copper [4], aluminum [5], stainless steel [6], carbon steel [7][8][9][10][11][12], and various other alloys [13,14] have been evaluated for PEM fuel cell BPPs. Most of these studies conclude that although the cost of manufacturing is low for metallic bipolar plates, the corrosion resistance is also low and hence are not suitable for BPPs.…”

“…The sulfonate sites present in the polymer electrolyte membrane have a high affinity toward M + ions than that toward H + ions [15], and this is detrimental to protonic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membrane. Further, when operated for longer duration SO 4 2− and F − ions leach-out from the electrolyte {perfluorosulfonic acid (C 9 HF 17 O 5 S)} and make an aggressive environment near the BPP accelerating the corrosion rate.…”