Investigation of Die Clearance in Rubber Pad Forming of Metallic Bipolar Plates

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

2 Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol, Iran

Abstract

In this research, rubber pad forming process of metallic bipolar plates made of stainless
steel 316L with a thickness of 0.1 mm has been studied. In addition, a rubber pad made of polyurethane
with the hardness number of shore A 85 and a thickness of 25mm is used in order to apply pressure to
the plate to form the sheets. In order to study the effect of die clearance on depth filling, two die sets with
different clearances were made. The results showed that when clearance is applied between punch die
and matrix, the amount of uniformity becomes more in the depth of stuffed channel. But, the rubber pad
is destroyed after some forming operation and plastic deformation occurs in it. Also, in the die set with
the lower clearance, the amount of rubber pad life has been increased and the amount of flow channel
depth gets greater. In the research results, it was determined that when the channel depth is small and a
rubber pad is used with a higher hardness, the die set with a clearance has more favorable results due to
uniformity in the flow channels’ depth. However, by increasing the depth of bipolar plate channels, using
die sets with lower clearance are better due to the increasing the rubber pad life.

Highlights

[1] S.C. Singhal, K. Kendall, High-temperature solid oxide fuel cells, fundamentals, design and applications, Elsevier, 2003.

[2]L. Ma, S. Warthesen, D. Shores, Evaluation of materials for bipolar plates in PEMFCs, Journal of New Materials for Electrochemical Systems, 3(3) (2000) 221-228

[3] H. Wang, J. Turner, Reviewing metallic PEMFC bipolar plates, Fuel Cells, 10(4) (2010) 510-519

[4] S. Mahabunphachai, A Hybrid Hydroforming and Mechanical Bonding Process for Fuel Cell Biopolar Plates, (2008)

[5] V. Mehta, J.S. Cooper, Review and analysis of PEM fuel cell design and manufacturing, Journal of Power Sources, 114(1) (2003) 32-53

[6] Y. Liu, L. Hua, J. Lan, X. Wei, Studies of the deformation styles of the rubber-pad forming process used for manufacturing metallic bipolar plates, Journal of Power Sources, 195(24) (2010) 8177-8184.

[7] C.Y. Son, Y.P. Jeon, Y.T. Kim, C.G. Kang, Evaluation of the formability of a bipolar plate manufactured from aluminum alloy Al 1050 using the rubber pad forming process, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 226(5) (2012) 909-918

[8] C.K. Jin, M.G. Jeong, C.G. Kang, Fabrication of titanium bipolar plates by rubber forming and performance of single cell using TiN-coated titanium bipolar plates, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 39(36) (2014) 21480-21488

[9] M.B.Osia, M.B.Jooybari, S.J.Hosseinipour, A.Gorji, The Experimental and Simulation Investigation of Process and Geometrical Parameters for Hydroforming of Pin-type Metallic Bipolar plates, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(7) (2015) 215-226

[10] M. Elyasi, F.A. khatir, M. Hosseinzadeh, Experimental study of the die patterns in rubber pad forming process for production of metallic bipolar plates, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(9) (2015) 179-186

[11] M. Elyasi, F.A. khatir, M. Hosseinzadeh, Lubricant effect on depth flling of metallic bipolar plates with concave and convex patterns in rubber pad forming process, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(12) (2015) 450-460

Keywords

References

[1] S.C. Singhal, K. Kendall, High-temperature solid oxide fuel cells, fundamentals, design and applications, Elsevier, 2003.
[2]L. Ma, S. Warthesen, D. Shores, Evaluation of materials for bipolar plates in PEMFCs, Journal of New Materials for Electrochemical Systems, 3(3) (2000) 221-228
[3] H. Wang, J. Turner, Reviewing metallic PEMFC bipolar plates, Fuel Cells, 10(4) (2010) 510-519
[4] S. Mahabunphachai, A Hybrid Hydroforming and Mechanical Bonding Process for Fuel Cell Biopolar Plates, (2008)
[5] V. Mehta, J.S. Cooper, Review and analysis of PEM fuel cell design and manufacturing, Journal of Power Sources, 114(1) (2003) 32-53
[6] Y. Liu, L. Hua, J. Lan, X. Wei, Studies of the deformation styles of the rubber-pad forming process used for manufacturing metallic bipolar plates, Journal of Power Sources, 195(24) (2010) 8177-8184.
[7] C.Y. Son, Y.P. Jeon, Y.T. Kim, C.G. Kang, Evaluation of the formability of a bipolar plate manufactured from aluminum alloy Al 1050 using the rubber pad forming process, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 226(5) (2012) 909-918
[8] C.K. Jin, M.G. Jeong, C.G. Kang, Fabrication of titanium bipolar plates by rubber forming and performance of single cell using TiN-coated titanium bipolar plates, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 39(36) (2014) 21480-21488
[9] M.B.Osia, M.B.Jooybari, S.J.Hosseinipour, A.Gorji, The Experimental and Simulation Investigation of Process and Geometrical Parameters for Hydroforming of Pin-type Metallic Bipolar plates, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(7) (2015) 215-226
[10] M. Elyasi, F.A. khatir, M. Hosseinzadeh, Experimental study of the die patterns in rubber pad forming process for production of metallic bipolar plates, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(9) (2015) 179-186
[11] M. Elyasi, F.A. khatir, M. Hosseinzadeh, Lubricant effect on depth flling of metallic bipolar plates with concave and convex patterns in rubber pad forming process, Modares Mechanical Engineering, 15(12) (2015) 450-460
AUT Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 1
June 2017
Pages 89-98

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics