Testing metallic Interconnects for SOFC with working 'real life' parameters at 600°C

摘要

Ferritic Stainless steels (FSS) are since years the most investigated materials for interconnects in high and intermediate temperature fuel cells such as SOFC. Several commercial and innovative alloys belonging to this wide family have been tested in the past allowing to make a narrow selection of formulations where Cr is the main and most important alloying element. Nevertheless more studies are needed in order to investigate their behavior in real working conditions and how they affect the durability and therefore the risk of failure of a SOFC based stack. In this paper FSS commonly used as interconnects (Crofer 22 APU, AISI 441 and AISI 430) are discussed after simulation of their "real life": 600°C, dual atmosphere, constant current flow (0.5 A/cm~2 ). This has been possible by using a prototype of a new rig called Real Life Tester developed during the European FP7 project IdealCell. The results have been compared with classical setup for ASR measurements showing up the importance to realize tests as much as possible close to working conditions.