Galliosilicate glasses for viscous sealants in solid oxide fuel cell stacks: Part III: Behavior in air and humidified hydrogen

•Excellent stability of viscous SOFC seals in wet H2 demonstrated for up to 1000 h.•All optimized sealants show CTE matching and viscous sealing behaviors to 1000 h.•Wet H2 introduces OH into the glass increases initial crystallization rates.•Zero failures at the interfaces were found to 1000 h.

Optimized boro-galliosilicate glasses were selected to evaluate their viscous sealing performance in both air and humidified hydrogen atmospheres. Selected low-alkali and alkali-free glasses show excellent performance, with viscous behavior maintained for more than 1000 h in wet hydrogen. Candidate sealants were thermally treated at 850 and 750 °C for up to 1000 h in contact with alumina coated 441 stainless steel (Al-SS) and 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ). Each sealant crystallizes appreciably by 1000 h, and their coefficients of thermal expansion range from 10.2 to 11.7 × 10−6 K−1, 100–400 °C. The remnant amorphous phases in most of the partially crystallized sealants show softening points near or below the target operating temperatures, thus enabling viscous sealing. Humidified hydrogen in general increases the rate of crystallization but does not change the crystalline phases formed or interactions with 8YSZ. For the low-alkali GaBA series, wet H2 enhances the interfacial interaction between potassium in the glass phase and the protective alumina coating on the stainless steel.