The use of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) in the transportation sector places high demands on the stack and the fuel cell system. Due to the high runtime requirements and the prevailing chemical and thermal stresses of the PEMBZ, cost-intensive materials (high-alloy stainless steels, chemically stable plastics: PTFE, FKM, PPS, etc.) are currently used for system components. There is significant potential for savings here by substituting these materials, e.g., with less expensive plastics.

However, due to the high chemical and thermal stresses, materials are required which, on the one hand, can withstand the required operating demands and, on the other hand, do not contaminate the PEMBZ during operation due to aging-related material emissions and thus accelerate degradation. Especially on the anode, these must additionally be gas-tight and chemically stable against hydrogen in order to ensure long-term operational reliability of the PEMBZ system.

For this reason, it is imperative to test materials in advance for their suitability for use in PEMBZ systems using a flexible, cost-effective and reproducible method. It is important that the suitability is tested under realistic conditions. For example, some materials may already tend to leach out constituents due to unrealistic exposure to liquid media, even though they might be perfectly usable in dry areas of the system.

The aim of the planned research project is to develop a compact test chamber as part of an in-situ qualification device to cover a wide range of realistic fuel cell system conditions for material tests. The main focus is on the development, design and manufacture of a multifunctional test chamber that can be used for the testing of plastics as well as various assembly auxiliaries and functional materials under different pressure, temperature and relative humidity parameters in in-situ test procedures. The newly designed test chamber is to be developed for the first time for the anode-side part of the fuel cell, resulting in increased requirements in terms of process reliability due to the use of hydrogen.

An additional development focus of this research project is the elaboration and implementation of a new type of flow-through test specimen geometry, which allows both the influence of the material on the fuel cell and the hydrogen permeability of the material to be determined. The state of the art is, among other things, the coating of plastics to improve gas tightness and thus reduce hydrogen permeability. The test facility would allow testing of this coating-material pairing with respect to H2 permeation properties and the effects of this coating on fuel cell performance using an identical test specimen.

• Project PANAMA: 49VF200058
• Euronorm, BMWi, INNO-KOM
• Project: 01.03.2021 - 31.08.2023
• Department fuel cell systems