IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v71y2014icp616-628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Study on dimensional and corrosion properties of thixoformed A356 and AA7075 aluminum bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Author

Listed:
  • Bolouri, Amir
  • Kang, Chung Gil

Abstract

Metallic bipolar plates for polymer exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are currently manufactured by stamping of thin sheets. However, there are dimensional and shape errors of microchannels because of forming limitation such as spring back of thin sheets after stamping. On the other hand, stamping process is limited to commercially available sheet alloys, which restricts the development of a high corrosion resistant substrate aluminum alloy. Here, thixoforming (a commercial semisolid route) that is applicable to a wide range of aluminum alloys is proposed for net-shape micromanufacturing of aluminum bipolar plates with high dimensional stability. High corrosion resistance cast A356 (Cu-free) and wrought AA7075 (∼2% Cu) aluminum billets are used for this study. Initial billets are heated at different semisolid temperatures. Subsequently, the semisolid slurries are injected into the die cavity. A356 and AA7075 aluminum bipolar plates are successfully fabricated by thixoforming with very small deviation of 0.7% and 1.5% from the nominal value of 0.300 mm in the microchannel depth, respectively. A multilayer coating of TiN/CrN is deposited on the surface of thixoformed bipolar plates through a commercially available magnetron sputtering technique. Electrochemical corrosion tests show that coated-thixoformed A356 (Cu-free) bipolar plates have significantly lower corrosion current densities than coated-thixoformed AA7075 (∼2% Cu) bipolar plates. This seems to be due to the deleterious effect of Cu alloying element on the corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys that clearly confirms the importance of substrate material development for corrosive PEM fuel cell environment. It is suggested that specific high corrosion resistance aluminum alloy for PEM fuel cell application can be simply designed and then thixoforming can be efficiently and cost effectively employed to fabricate net-shape aluminum bipolar plates.

Suggested Citation

  • Bolouri, Amir & Kang, Chung Gil, 2014. "Study on dimensional and corrosion properties of thixoformed A356 and AA7075 aluminum bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 616-628.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:71:y:2014:i:c:p:616-628
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2014.06.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148114003619
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2014.06.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Yun & Chen, Ken S. & Mishler, Jeffrey & Cho, Sung Chan & Adroher, Xavier Cordobes, 2011. "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 981-1007, April.
    2. Lee, Choong-Hyun & Lee, Yang-Bok & Kim, Kyung-Min & Jeong, Min-Gun & Lim, Dae-Soon, 2013. "Electrically conductive polymer composite coating on aluminum for PEM fuel cells bipolar plate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 46-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Yi, Peiyun & Lehnert, Werner & Lai, Xinmin, 2021. "Review on proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack assembly: Quality evaluation, assembly method, contact behavior and process design," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    2. Yan, Wei-Mon & Lin, Jian-Cheng & Chen, Chen-Yu & Amani, Mohammad, 2023. "Performance evaluation of TiN/Ti coatings on the aluminum alloy bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Ren, Peng & Pei, Pucheng & Chen, Dongfang & Zhang, Lu & Li, Yuehua & Song, Xin & Wang, Mingkai & Wang, He, 2022. "Corrosion of metallic bipolar plates accelerated by operating conditions in a simulated PEM fuel cell cathode environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 1277-1287.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Yujie & Sun, Zhendong & Li, Xiyun & Yang, Xiaoyu & Chen, Zonghai, 2019. "A comparative study of power allocation strategies used in fuel cell and ultracapacitor hybrid systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Peng, Fei & Zhao, Yuanzhe & Li, Xiaopeng & Liu, Zhixiang & Chen, Weirong & Liu, Yang & Zhou, Donghua, 2017. "Development of master-slave energy management strategy based on fuzzy logic hysteresis state machine and differential power processing compensation for a PEMFC-LIB-SC hybrid tramway," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 346-363.
    3. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    4. Liao, Shuxin & Qiu, Diankai & Yi, Peiyun & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Modeling of a novel cathode flow field design with optimized sub-channels to improve drainage for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    5. Zheng Huang & Laisuo Su & Yunjie Yang & Linsong Gao & Xinyu Liu & Heng Huang & Yubai Li & Yongchen Song, 2023. "Three-Dimensional Simulation on the Effects of Different Parameters and Pt Loading on the Long-Term Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Vasallo, Manuel Jesús & Bravo, José Manuel & Andújar, José Manuel, 2013. "Optimal sizing for UPS systems based on batteries and/or fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 170-181.
    7. Bae, Suk Joo & Kim, Seong-Joon & Lee, Jin-Hwa & Song, Inseob & Kim, Nam-In & Seo, Yongho & Kim, Ki Buem & Lee, Naesung & Park, Jun-Young, 2014. "Degradation pattern prediction of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack with series reliability structure via durability data of single cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 48-55.
    8. Yan, Peijian & Tian, Pengfei & Cai, Cheng & Zhou, Shenghu & Yu, Xinhai & Zhao, Shuangliang & Tu, Shan-Tung & Deng, Chengwei & Sun, Yi, 2020. "Antioxidative and stable PdZn/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst coatings concerning methanol steam reforming for fuel cell-powered vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Yuan, Wei & Tang, Yong & Yang, Xiaojun & Wan, Zhenping, 2012. "Porous metal materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 309-329.
    10. Luka Mihanović & Željko Penga & Lei Xing & Viktor Hacker, 2021. "Combining Baffles and Secondary Porous Layers for Performance Enhancement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-28, June.
    11. Lin, Jui-Yen & Shih, Yu-Jen & Chen, Po-Yen & Huang, Yao-Hui, 2016. "Precipitation recovery of boron from aqueous solution by chemical oxo-precipitation at room temperature," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1052-1058.
    12. Wang, Yujie & Sun, Zhendong & Chen, Zonghai, 2019. "Energy management strategy for battery/supercapacitor/fuel cell hybrid source vehicles based on finite state machine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    13. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Theory and practice of flow field designs for fuel cell scaling-up: A critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 640-663.
    14. Pei, Pucheng & Wu, Ziyao & Li, Yuehua & Jia, Xiaoning & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Shangwei, 2018. "Improved methods to measure hydrogen crossover current in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 338-347.
    15. Li, Wenkai & Zhang, Qinglei & Wang, Chao & Yan, Xiaohui & Shen, Shuiyun & Xia, Guofeng & Zhu, Fengjuan & Zhang, Junliang, 2017. "Experimental and numerical analysis of a three-dimensional flow field for PEMFCs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 278-288.
    16. Bao, Zhiming & Niu, Zhiqiang & Jiao, Kui, 2020. "Gas distribution and droplet removal of metal foam flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    17. Kim, Sung Han & Miesse, Craig M. & Lee, Hee Bum & Chang, Ik Whang & Hwang, Yong Sheen & Jang, Jae Hyuk & Cha, Suk Won, 2014. "Ultra compact direct hydrogen fuel cell prototype using a metal hydride hydrogen storage tank for a mobile phone," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 382-391.
    18. Sun, Zhe & Wang, Ning & Bi, Yunrui & Srinivasan, Dipti, 2015. "Parameter identification of PEMFC model based on hybrid adaptive differential evolution algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1334-1341.
    19. Xing, Lei & Du, Shangfeng & Chen, Rui & Mamlouk, Mohamed & Scott, Keith, 2016. "Anode partial flooding modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Model development and validation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 80-95.
    20. Jiao, Kui & Bachman, John & Zhou, Yibo & Park, Jae Wan, 2014. "Effect of induced cross flow on flow pattern and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 75-82.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:71:y:2014:i:c:p:616-628. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.