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Modelling and Prediction of the Deformation during Co-Sintering of a High Temperature Dual Membrane Fuel Cell
Today, this simplified cell is fabricated at the laboratory scale by a sequence of successive steps (1/ cold pressing, rolling and sintering of the porous dual membrane at 1350°C, 2/ deposition of both electrolytes by dip coating, and sintering at 1350°C, 3/ deposition of both cathode and anode by bar-coating, and sintering at 1150°C), which is hardly cost effective in view of stacking and further development. The present work proposes to demonstrate that co-sintering of the whole cell in a single step is possible, and to determine under what conditions of geometry, starting materials and sintering cycle a flat and stress-free cell in view of stacking, efficiency and durability can be produced via this simplified process. The research described in this paper was based on the thermomechanical modelling of the multilayer deformation occurring during sintering via a finite element numerical simulation, in which debinding, elastic and irreversible deformations, kinetics of grain growth and pores shrinkage are integrated. The thermomechanical parameters were obtained on a differential CTE measurement set-up, and the microstructural ones by image analysis on SEM images.