Development of ceramic fiber reinforced glass ceramic sealants for microtubular solid oxide fuel cells

Ceramic fibers in various forms with different fiber sizes are tested to improve the sealing performance of glass ceramic seals for micmtubular solid oxide fuel cell applications. In this regard, several sealing pastes are prepared by mixing each ceramic fibers type with glass ceramics at 1.25 wt %. Five layered micmtubular anode supported cells are also fabricated by extrusion and dip coating methods to evaluate the sealing performance of the composite sealants. The pastes are applied between the cells and gas manifolds made of Crofer22 APU. The electrochemical and sealing performances at an operating temperature of 800 degrees C under hydrogen are investigated after the glass forming process. Microstructures of the sealants are also examined by a scanning electron microscope. Experimental investigations reveal that the cells sealed by the pastes with ceramic bulk fiber and ceramic fiber rope gasket show acceptable open circuit potentials close to the theoretical one. These cells can be also pressurized up to around 150 kPa back pressure in the sealing performance tests. On the other hand, the pastes without any filler, with ceramic rope and with ceramic blanket exhibit poor sealing performance due to gas leakage originated from flowing of the main glass ceramic matrix from the joints. Therefore, ceramic bulk fiber and ceramic fiber rope gasket are found to behave as a stopper and can be used to prevent glass ceramics from flowing for microtubular solid oxide fuel cells or similar applications.