Durable, Impermeable Brazes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Michigan State University (MSU) will team with Delphi Automotive Systems (Delphi) to design and test new solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)-compatible, silver-free brazes to form durable, oxygen- and hydrogen-impermeable protective surface scales. The team will use a combined computational-experimental approach to develop new braze compositions. In addition to instituting a new paradigm for braze development and generating a wealth of important, fundamental material property data, this work will provide new brazes specifically designed to withstand the extremes in temperature, time, atmosphere, and thermal cycling encountered in SOFC operation.

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Figure 1: Side view of a Delphi SOFC cell brazed to its ferritic stainless steel picture frame

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Reactive-Element-Free, Silver-Based Brazes for SOFC Applications
Presented by Jason D. Nicholas, Michigan State University, at the 2017 SOFC Project Review Meeting.
Nickel-Based Braze Materials for Planar SOFC Applications (2016)
Poster presentation by Quan Zhou, Michigan State University, at the 2016 SOFC Workshop.
Computational Predictions and Experimental Characterization of Cobalt and Copper Based SOFC Brazes (2016)
Poster presentation by Yuxi Ma, Michigan State University, at the 2016 SOFC Workshop.
Towards Durable, Impermeable SOFC Brazes (2016)
Presented by Jason Nicholas, Michigan State University, at the 2016 SOFC Workshop.

Principal Investigator

Jason Nicholas

jdn@msu.edu

Project Benefits

MSU and Delphi will use a combined simulation-experimental approach to design and test new, SOFC-compatible, silver-free brazes forming durable, oxygen- and hydrogen-impermeable protective surface scales. The new brazes will solve the long-term metal degradation issues encountered with silver-based SOFC brazes in dual atmosphere environments (see Figure 1), resulting in extended SOFC life and lower SOFC costs. The reduced materials costs of these new non-precious-metal brazes will also reduce SOFC stack costs.

Project ID

FE0023315

Website

Michigan State University

http://www.msu.edu/