New Approach of Metal Substrate Fabrication for Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Metal-supported fuel cells (MSCs) offer a high cost advantage over pure ceramic solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Based on the very good thermal shock stability of MSCs, these systems can be heated up quickly. They have a long endurance in temperature range of 680 up to 800 °C due to their good redox stability and excellent mechanical properties. Although worldwide intensive efforts have been done to realize MSCs, there is no reproducible and at the same time cost-efficient manufacturing technology established. The production of the metal substrate via the modification of metal powders and a tape casting process resulted in an efficient co-production for the first time. Both, the adaptation of the shrinkage or sintering behavior to the ceramic components and the targeted adjustment of the porosity, can be achieved by presented manufacturing route. The combination of powder modification followed by further processing in tape casting process into metal layers is an innovative approach for the production of cost-effective and reproducible metal substrates for metal-supported cells (MSCs). By using metal powders from a high energy milling process and adjusting the shrinkage of metal powder mixtures to the shrinkage of the ceramic electrolyte layer, short process times can be achieved with just a few manufacturing steps. The milling and shaping process also leads to low process costs, low reject rates and is suitable for large scales. At the same time, the porosity of the metal substrates can be adjusted by mixing powders from different milling stages. The tape casting process also allows the adjustment of the desired layer thickness of a few 100 microns and further lamination leads to an interface formation to the ceramic layer.