Abstract
AbstractAluminum bipolar plates that can replace graphite bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells are made by applying a semi‐solid forging process. A semi‐solid slurry is made using electromagnetic stirring (EMS), and the resulting slurry is injected into a forging die attached to a 200 ton hydraulic press. The slurry is then compressed with a punch, flowed into a die cavity, and solidified into the bipolar plate form. A356 (cast Al alloy), A6061 (wrought Al alloy), and A1100 (pure Al) are used to make the plates. Titanium nitride (TiN) coating is deposited on the aluminum bipolar plates. An atomic force microscope (AFM) is used to measure the surface roughness of the plates. TiN coated A356 and A1100 plates have a surface roughness of Ra < 1.2 μm. The plate thickness is 1.2 mm. The active area of the channel is 70 mm × 70 mm, with a depth and width of 0.3 and 1.0 mm, respectively. The three TiN‐coated aluminum plates are combined with a unit cell for a performance test. Our results show that a current density value of 473 mA cm–2 (about 41% of the current density value of commercial graphite plates) can be obtained.
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