Abstract
In Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, local temperature is a driving force for many degradation mechanisms such as hygrothermal deformation, creep, platinum dissolution, and bipolar plates corrosion. In order to investigate and quantify those effects, durability testing in automotive operating conditions is conducted in this work. During the ageing tests, the local performance and temperature are investigated using in-situ measurements of a printed circuit board. At the end of life, post-mortem analysis of the aged components is conducted in order to investigate their local microstructure and chemical composition. It is observed that hot zones don’t show significant performance losses despite the advanced mechanical degradation observed in post-mortem analysis. Heat and water transport directly impact the hygrothermal stresses in the membrane which can induce local failure even without gradual performance loss. Furthermore, humidity and temperature are responsible for bipolar plates corrosion acceleration and evaporation phenomena induce local fouling in the cell.
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