Effect of binder burnout on the sealing performance of glass ceramics for solid oxide fuel cells

The glass ceramics composite sealants are among few materials suitable for the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) due to their high operating temperatures (600 °C-850 °C). The glass ceramics chemically bond to both the metallic interconnector and the ceramic electrolyte and provide a gas tight connection. A careful and several stages manufacturing procedure is required to obtain a gas tight sealing. In this study, effects of binder burnout process on the sealing performance are investigated employing commercially available glass ceramic powders. The glass ceramic laminates are produced by mixing glass ceramic powders with the organic binders and employing a tape casting method. The laminates are sandwiched between the metallic interconnectors of an SOFC cell. The burnout and subsequent sealing quality are analyzed by measuring leakage rate and final macrostructure of sealing region. The effects of heating rate, dead weight load, solid loading, carrier gas and their flow rates are investigated. It is found that sealing quality is affected from all investigated parameters. While a slower heating rate is required for a better burnout, the mass flow rate of sweep gas must be adequate for removal of the burned gas. The leakage rate is reduced to 0.1 ml min−1 with 2 °C min−1 + 1 °C min−1 heating rate, 86.25% solid loading, 200 N dead weight load and 500 ml min−1 sweep gas flow rate.