Analysis of Multi-step Forming of Metallic Bipolar Plate for MCFC Using Various Shapes of Preforms

Abstract

The metallic bipolar plates of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) consist of a shielded slot plate and a center plate. Among these, the shielded slot plate (the current collector) supports the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) mechanically. The anode gases and the cathode gases pass through a space between individual slot patterns. The catalysts are located in the upper part of the shielded slot plate. Therefore, triple phase boundaries can be generated, and carbonate ions can act as the mobile charge carrier for the MCFC. Due to these properties, the shielded slot plate should have a sheared corrugated pattern. In order to form a sheared corrugated pattern, a slitting process is required during the first stage of the forming process. However, it is not possible to obtain a high aspect ratio in a sheared corrugated trapezoidal pattern due to the plastic strain concentration on the upper round region of the pattern. Therefore additional forming processes are required to form a high aspect‐ratio pattern. For example, the two additional processes such as a “stretching process using a preform” and a “final forming process” can be done subsequent to the first slitting process. Before the final forming process, a stretching process, which forms an intermediate shape (perform), can make the strain distribution more uniform. Hence, various examples of performs were evaluated by using FEM simulation employing simplified boundary conditions. Finally, experiments involving microscopic and macroscopic observations using the proposed shape of a preform were conducted to characterize the formability of the sheared corrugated pattern. It was found that the numerical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results.