PNNL

Abstract

Presented in this paper are results obtained on a new sealing concept for planar solid oxide fuel cells (pSOFCs). By employing a plastically deformable metal membrane as the key sealing element, this design should display a quasi-dynamic response to thermally or mechanically induced stresses. That is, the membrane is designed to readily yield or deform in response to the applied stress and thereby mitigate its transfer to the adjacent ceramic and metal components, while at the same time remaining adherent to both sealing surfaces (non-sliding). Described here are details of the new seal, including a discussion of design issues, initial proof-of-principle results on small test specimens, and a preliminary finite element analyses aimed at scaling the seal to the size and geometry required in a prototypic pSOFC stack.