Glass composition and process for sealing void spaces in electrochemical devices
AssigneeBattelle Memorial Institute
InventorsKerry D. Meinhardt, Brent W. Kirby
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A glass foaming material and method are disclosed for filling void spaces in electrochemical devices. The glass material includes a reagent that foams at a temperature above the softening point of the glass. Expansion of the glass fills void spaces including by-pass and tolerance channels of electrochemical devices. In addition, cassette to cassette seals can also be formed while channels and other void spaces are filled, reducing the number of processing steps needed.
Claims23
A glass-sealing composition for filling and sealing a void space in a high-temperature device, characterized by:
- a preselected glass that includes a suitable quantity of a gas-releasing agent therein, said gas-releasing agent releases a gas at or above the softening temperature of said glass that expands said glass retaining a structure upon crystallization attained during expansion that fills and seals said void space when introduced thereto.
A method for sealing a void space in a high-temperature device, characterized by the steps of:
- dispensing a preselected quantity of a glass composition of a preselected particle size and a gas-releasing agent therein configured to release a gas at or above a preselected softening temperature of said glass composition;
- and
- heating said glass composition at a preselected rate to a temperature above said glass softening temperature to release gas from said gas-releasing agent that is retained within, and expands, said glass to form an expanded glass structure;
- thereby filling and sealing said void space in said high-temperature device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.