• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.243-248
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• 2016

Although thermoset carbon fiber composite bipolar plates not only have high mechanical properties but also high corrosion resistance in acid environment, high manufacturing cost and low bulk electrical conductivity are the biggest obstacle to overcome. In this research, thermoplastic polymer is employed for the matrix of carbon composite bipolar plate to increase both the manufacturing productivity and bulk electric conductivity of the bipolar plate. In order to increase the electrical conductivity and strength, plain type carbon fabric rather than chopped or unidirectional fibers is used. Also nano particles are embedded in the thermoplastic matrix to increase the bulk resistance of the bipolar plate. The area specific resistance and the mechanical strength of the developed bipolar plate are measured with respect to the environmental temperature and stack compaction pressure.

• Carbon letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2007

In this study, graphite composites were fabricated by warm press molding method to realize commercialization of PEM fuel cells. Graphite composites have been considered as alternative economic materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells. Graphite powder that enables to provide electrical conductivity was selected as the main substance. The graphite powder was mixed with phenolic resin and the mixture was pressed using a warm press method. First of all, the graphite powder was pulverized with a ball mill for the dense packing of composite. As the ball milling time increases, the average size of particles decreases and the size distribution becomes narrow. This allows for improvement of the uniformity of graphite composite. However, the surface electrical resistivity of graphite composite increases as the ball milling time increases. It is due to that graphite particles with amorphous phase are generated on the surface due to the friction and collision of particles during pulverizing. We found that the contact electrical resistivity of graphite particles increases as the particle size decreases. The contact electrical resistivity of graphite powders was reduced due to high molding pressure by warm press molding. This leads to improvement of the mechanical properties of graphite composite. Hydrogen gas impermeability was measured with the graphite composite, showing a possibility of the application for bipolar plate in fuel cell. And, I-V curves of the graphite composite bipolar plate exhibit a similar performance to the graphite bipolar plate.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1201-1208
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• 2002

A numerical flow-field analysis is performed to investigate flow configurations in the anode, cathode and cooling channels on the bipolar plates of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Continuous open-faced flow channels are formed on the bipolar plate surface to supply hydrogen, air and water. In this analysis, two types of channel pattern are considered: serpentine and spiral. The averaged pressure distribution and velocity profiles of the hydrogen, air and water channels are calculated by two-dimensional flow-field analysis. The equations for the conservation of mass and momentum in the two-dimensional fluid flow analysis are slightly modified to include the characteristics of the PEMFC. The analysis results indicate that the serpentine flow-fields are locally unstable (because two channels are cross at right angles). The spiral flow-fields has more stable than the serpentine, due to rotational fluid-flow inertia forces. From this study, the spiral channel pattern is suggested for a channel pattern of the bipolar plate of the PEMFC to obtain better performance.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.492-501
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• 2017

A 900 W scale direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack is designed and fabricated for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. To meet the volume and weight requirements, metallic bipolar plates are applied to the DMFC stack for the first time wherein POS470FC was chosen as bipolar plate material. To ensure good robustness of the metallic bipolar plate based DMFC stack, finite element method based simulations are conducted using a commercial ANSYS Fluent software. The stress buildup and deformation characteristics on bipolar plates and end plates are analyzed in details. The present DMFC stack exhibits the performance of 1,130 W at 32 V and 35.3 A, clearly demonstrating that it could successfully operate for UAVs requiring around 1,000 W of power.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.722-727
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• 2009

The bipolar plates are not only the major part of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack in weight and volume, but also a significant contributor to the stack costs. Stainless steels are considered to be good candidates for bipolar plate materials of the PEMFC due to their low cost, high strength and easy machining, as well as corrosion resistance. In this paper, 316L stainless steel with and without nitrogen ion implantation were tested in simulated PEMFC environments for application as bipolar plates. The results showed that the nitride formed by nitrogen ion implantation contributed the decrease of the interfacial contact resistance without degradation of corrosion property. The combination of excellent properties indicated that nitrogen ion implanted stainless steel could be potential candidate materials as bipolar plates in PEMFC. Current efforts have focused on optimizing the condition of ion implantation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2007

Mechanical behavior in metal bipolar plate of a fuel cell stack was studied using finite element analysis. The fuel stack is essentially composed of a metal bipolar plate (metal BP), a gasket, an end plate, a membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA), and a gas diffusion layer (GDL). It is important to maintain a suitable fastening force of Metal BP, because it influences the power efficiency of the fuel cell stack. After a gasket and a GDL are placed on the metal BP, the reaction force with the displacement is measured. The channel of metal bipolar plate is replaced by a simple geometrical plate. The results of FEM are similar to those of experiment. Therefore mechanical behavior in metal BP of a fuel cell stack can be estimated by using FEM.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2003

As an alternative bipolar plate material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), TiN-coated 316 stainless was evaluated in terms of electrical contact resistance and water contact angle. Performance and lifetime of the TiN-coated 316 bipolar plates were measured in comparison with those of graphite and bare 316 bipolar plates. At a cell voltage of 0.6 V, current density of the single cells using graphite, AISI 316, and TiN/316 bipolar plates was 996, 796, and $896mA/cm^2$, respectively. By coating 316 stainless steel with TiN layer, performance degradation rate determined to be the voltage degradation rate at a cell voltage of 0.6 V was reduced from 2.3 to 0.43 mV/h.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.321-325
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• 2005

Bipolar plate is the main part with MEA in automotive PEMFC. It must have a good electrical conductivity and excellent corrosion resistance, be cost effective. Therefore, stainless steels have been studied by many researchers because of its corrosion resistance and cost benefits. But their properties are not sufficient for the application to bipolar plate for automotive PEMFC. In this work, we have performed stamping using various commercial stainless steels to select candidate material for biploar plate and to derive design parameters for stamping simulation. The results showed that a small curvature at the corner of flow field is more favorable due to easier a plastic deformation. Stamping process was simulated by changing surface condition, and the size and angle of channel. The optimum shape and spring back phenomena were evaluated. Surface coating was applied to increase the corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity of stainless steel. The electrical interfacial resistance was 10 to $15m{\Omega}cm^2$ under clamping force of 150psi. But corrosion resistance of coating on the stainless steel was not good due to the unstableness of microstructure.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.92-107
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• 2016

Graphene was coated on austenitic and martensitic stainless steels to simulate the metallic bipolar plate of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized and was reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via a hydrazine process. rGO was confirmed by FE-SEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. Interfacial contact resistance (ICR) between the bipolar plate and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) was measured to confirm the electrical conductivity. Both ICR and corrosion current density decreased on graphene coated stainless steels. Corrosion resistance was also improved with immersion time in cathodic environments and satisfied the criteria of the Department of Energy (DOE), USA. The total concentrations of metal ions dissolved from graphene coated stainless steels were reduced. Furthermore hydrophobicity was improved by increasing the contact angle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.153-154
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• 2012