Thermal cycle stability of a novel glass–mica composite seal for SOFC.pdf

Journal of Power Sources 152 (2005) 168–174 Thermal cycle stability of a novel glass–mica composite seal for solid oxide fuel cells: Effect of glass volume fraction and stresses Yeong-Shyung Chou ∗, Jeffry W. Stevenson, Prabhakar Singh Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Materials Division, K2-44, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99354, USA Received 22 February 2005; received in revised form 10 March 2005; accepted 11 March 2005 Available online 9 June 2005 Abstract A novel glass–mica composite seal was developed based on a previously reported concept of “infiltrated” mica seals for solid oxide fuel cells. Ba–Al–Ca silicate sealing glass powder and Phlogopite mica flakes were mixed at glass volume fractions of 10–50 vol.% to make the glass–mica composite seals. The seals were leak tested for short-term thermal cycle stability as a function of glass volume fraction. Composite seals with 10 and 20 vol.% glass were also leak tested under compressive stresses from 3 to 100 psi and helium pressures of 0.2 or 2 psi. Post-mortem microstructure analyses were used to characterize the fracture (leak path) of the glass–mica composite seals and were related to the high temperature leakages. Open circuit voltage tests on dense 8YSZ electrolyte with the glass–mica composite seal showed very good thermal cycle stability over 250 cycles with minute (1%) voltage drop. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Compressive seal; Mica; Leak test; Thermal cycle; SOFC 1. Introduction previous studies, we have identified the major leak paths of conventional compressive mica seals to be at the interfaces