Download Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are made up of a repeating

Title: Mechanical Characterization of Electrolyte-supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are made up of a repeating sequence of thin layers of
energy producing ceramics. For electro-chemical reasons it is best to keep these layers as thin as
possible, which also means that the cells are more mechanically susceptible to damage during
production and/or operation. In electrolyte-supported SOFCs, an electrolyte layer can be
designed having properties that are non-uniform across the plane of the layer but follow a
repeating pattern. These layers, which are much smaller in thickness than they are in area,
require a two-scale approach in order to model using finite elements; the smaller scale focuses on
analyzing a representative area of the cell, while the larger examines the cell as a whole. To
populate these models, an array of experimental techniques are needed. The small scale model
requires bulk elastic properties of the electrolyte material, which are measured over a range of
temperatures using a sonic resonance technique. This model then outputs “effective” properties
for the large scale, which must be experimentally validated using four-point bend tests on
representative samples.