Fracture energy comparison of aluminum and boron composites for fuel cell end plates

Abstract

Fuel cells have become an attractive choice because they do not cause environmental and noise pollution. Additionally, they do not contain any moving parts and have higher efficiency than fossil fuels. Therefore, improving the capability of fuel cells helps to provide clean energy. Among fuel cells, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) includes five main parts that are end plate, membrane, gas diffusion layer (GDL), catalyst layer (CL), bipolar flow plate (BFP). End plates hold PEMFC parts together securely. They should have high mechanical strength and low density properties. Therefore, the choice of materials for the PEMFC endplate is important. The calculated values of fracture energy show quantitatively how much energy must be placed in the sample to create the fracture surface. In this study, a finite element study was performed to understand the fracture behavior of cracks in the selected materials under different loading angles. The results revealed that the total fracture energy of aluminum was higher than boron-aluminum 50 and boron-aluminum 65 composites.