Effect Of Formation Temperature On The Properties Of Graphite/Stannum/Polypropylene Composite For Bipolar Plate

Tio, Kok Wei (2015) Effect Of Formation Temperature On The Properties Of Graphite/Stannum/Polypropylene Composite For Bipolar Plate. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

Text (24 Pages) Effect Of Formation Temperature On The Properties Of Graphite Stannum Polypropylene Composite For Bipolar Plate 24 Pages.pdf - Submitted Version Download (311kB)

Abstract

Bipolar plates are key components of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. They carry current away from the cell and withstand the clamping force of the stack assembly. Therefore, PEM fuel cell bipolar plates must have high electrical conductivity and adequate mechanical strength, in addition to being light weight and low cost in terms of both applicable materials and production methods. In this research, the raw materials used to fabricate the high performance bipolar plate are Graphite (Gr), Stannum (Sn) and Polypropylene (PP). The Gr and Sn act as fillers and the PP acts as binder. The ratio of fillers (Gr/Sn) and binder (PP) is fixed at 80:20. For the mutli-conductive filler, small amount of Sn which is 10 up to 20wt% (from the total weight of fillers 80%) have been added into Gr/Sn/PP composite. The fillers were mixed by using the ball mill machine. The second stage of mixing process between the filler and binder is also carried out by using ball mill machine before the compaction process by the high speed hot press hydraulic machine. The effect of formation temperatures (160oC-170oC) on the properties of Gr/Sn/PP composite need to be study in more detail especially the electrical and mechanical properties of Gr/Sn/PP composite. The result shows that there are significant improvement in the electrical conductivity and bulk density which are exceeding the US-DoE target with the maximum value of 265.35S/cm and 1.682g/cm3 respectively. For the mechanical properties, flexural strength and shore hardness does not show any significant improvement which was not achieving the US-DoE target with the maximum value of 8.68 MPa and 28.2 respectively. The flexural strength and shore hardness of the Gr/Sn/PP composite do not achieved the target of DoE due to the different mixing process with previous researchers. The mixing of the filler and binder for this research was mixed using the ball mill machine while the mixing process for the previous researcher is using the internal mixer.

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