Metal Separator For Fuel Cell and Manufacturing Method Thereof
AssigneeUniversity of Yamanashi
InventorsMasahiro Watanabe, Hiroyuki Uchida, Hisao Yamashita, Kenji Miyatake
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Abstract
A metallic separator for fuel cells having a metal plate, an electroconductive coating layer covering at least a surface in front and back surfaces of the metal plate which contacts a raw material and/or a reaction product, and an electroconductive channel-forming member disposed on a surface of the coating layer and forming a channel for the raw material and/or the reaction product and/or a channel for a cooling medium for cooling. A surface layer on the metal plate has a tensile residual stress within such a range that no stress-corrosion cracking occurs.
Claims31
A metallic separator for fuel cells characterized by comprising:
- a metal plate of austenitic stainless steel;
- a corrosion-resistant coating layer covering at least a surface in front and back surfaces of the metal plate which contacts a raw material and/or a reaction product, and containing a carbon-based electroconductive material and a polymer resin;
- and
- an electroconductive channel-forming member disposed on a surface of the coating layer and forming a channel for the raw material and/or the reaction product and/or a channel for a cooling medium for cooling, the metallic separator also being also characterized in that a surface layer on the metal plate has a tensile residual stress within such a range that no stress-corrosion cracking occurs.
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A metallic separator for fuel cells characterized by comprising:
- a metal plate;
- an electroconductive coating layer covering at least a surface in front and back surfaces of the metal plate which contacts a raw material and/or a reaction product;
- and
- an electroconductive channel-forming member disposed on a surface of the coating layer, containing one or more of porous carbon-based electroconductive materials:
- carbon particle sintered material, carbon fiber sintered material, carbon fiber woven fabric, and carbon fiber nonwoven fabric, and forming a channel for the raw material and/or the reaction product and/or a channel for a cooling medium for cooling, the metallic separator also being characterized in that the channel is formed by combining one or more of the channel-forming members having a porosity of 50% or more, the channel-forming members having a porosity of 10 to 50%, and the channel-forming members having a porosity of 10% or less, and a surface layer on the metal plate has a tensile residual stress within such a range that no stress-corrosion cracking occurs.
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A method of manufacturing a metallic separator for fuel cells characterized by comprising:
- a step of forming an electroconductive coating layer at least on a surface in front and back surfaces of the metal plate which contacts a raw material and/or a reaction product;
- and
- a step of joining to the surface of the coating layer an electroconductive channel-forming member containing one or more of porous carbon-based electroconductive materials:
- carbon particle sintered material, carbon fiber sintered material, carbon fiber woven fabric, and carbon fiber nonwoven fabric, and forming a channel for the raw material and/or the reaction product and/or a channel for a cooling medium for cooling, the method also being characterized in that the channel is formed by combining one or more of the channel-forming members having a porosity of 50% or more, the channel-forming members having a porosity of 10 to 50%, and the channel-forming members having a porosity of 10% or less, and in that a surface layer on the metal plate has a tensile residual stress within such a range that no stress-corrosion cracking occurs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.