The Effects of Compression Pressure Applied on the Manufacture of Carbon Composite Bipolar Plate for PEMFC by Utilizing Graphite Waste Products

Abstract

Proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) have near zero carbon dioxide and hazardous pollutant emission. Thus, it is considered as one of energy sources for transportation and other application which can improve environmental performance by decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases and other air pollutant. In accordance with its environmental preservation values, graphite waste product from electric arc furnace (graphite EAF) was chosen as a potential candidate material for bipolar plate for PEMFC. The utilization of graphite waste product is expected to result in light-weight and cost-effective bipolar plates. In this paper, we used graphite EAF as a filler together with carbon black and epoxy resin as a binder. We examined the effects of differential pressure applied on compression molding process on density, porosity, flexural strength and electrical conductivity of the resulting carbon polymer composite bipolar plate. Pressure was applied from 30 MPa - 60 MPa in increments of 5 MPa while maintaining constant temperature operation at 700C for 4 hours. Maximum value of bipolar plate density was achieved at application 55 MPa, of 1.69 g/cm3. At this condition, the flexural strength was measured to be 48 MPa with the porosity of 0.7%, and electrical conductivity of 1.03 S/cm. Taken together, we demonstrated that graphite EAF is a good candidate for the manufacturing of polymer composite bipolar plates.