Creep Behavior of Glass/Ceramic Sealant Used in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

High operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells require that sealant must function at high temperature between 600o and 900oC and in the oxidizing and reducing environments of fuel and air. It should be noted that creep deformation becomes relevant for a material when the operating temperature is near or exceeds half of its melting temperature (in degrees of Kelvin). The operating temperatures for most of the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) under development in the SECA program are around 800oC, which exceeds the glass transition temperature Tg for most glass ceramic materials. The goal of the study is to develop a creep model to capture the creep behavior of glass ceramic materials at high temperature and to investigate the effect of creep of glass ceramic sealant materials on stresses in glass seal and on the various interfaces of glass seal with other layers. The self-consistent creep models were incorporated into SOFC-MP and Mentat FC, and finite element analyses were performed to quantify the stresses in various parts. The stress in glass seals were released due to its creep behavior during the operating environments.