Effect of interconnect creep on long-term performance of SOFC of one cell stacks

High temperature ferritic alloys are potential candidates as interconnect (IC) materials and spacers due to their low cost and CTE compatibility with other SOFC components for most of the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) under development in the SECA program. Possible creep deformation of IC under the typical cell operating temperature should not be neglected. In this paper, the effects of interconnect creep behavior on stack geometry change and stress redistribution of different cell components are predicted and summarized. The goal of the study is to investigate the performance of the fuel cell stack by obtaining the fuel and air channel geometry changes due to creep of the ferritic stainless steel interconnect, therefore indicating possible SOFC performance change under long term operations. IC creep models were incorporated into SOFC-MP and Mentat FC, and finite element analyses were performed to quantify the deformed configuration of the SOFC stack under the long term steady state operating temperature. It is found that creep behavior of the ferritic stainless steel IC contributes to narrowing of both the fuel and the air flow channels. In addition, stress re-distribution of the cell components suggests the need for a compliant sealing material that also relaxes at operating temperature.