Steel material fuel equivalent

Although it is a matter of common knowledge that stainless steel is quite prone to corrosion in fuel cells, bare substrates of different alloys were tested in past material investigations. In 1998, Hornung and Kappelt (1998) selected different iron-based materials for Solid Polymer Fuel Cell bipolar plates by using the pitting resistance equivalent (PRE = %Cr + 3.3%Mo + 30%N) as corrosion resistance criterion. The authors exposed that some iron-based materials with PRE >25 (the material compositions are not given... 

Lanthanum chromite has provided long lifetimes, as long as 69,000 h in Siemens Westinghouse tubular cells, at 900-1000°C. However, metallic interconnects have not yet shown equivalent lifetime performance. Improvements in metallic interconnect compositions and contact layers between cells/interconnects are still issues for materials development. In particular, the metal/ceramic interface in cells should have low corrosion, low contact resistance and low permeability of chromium species. Recent results have shown that optimised steels for SOFC applications are available and alkaline earth-free and cobalt-containing perovskites are the most suitable materials for contact layers however, their long-term performance under fuel cell operation conditions needs to be proven. 

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