Abstract:
Preparation metal coated with composite carbon bipolar plate for proton exchange membrane fuel cell was studied. Carbon composite was composed of graphite powder and binder. The carbon composite was coated on stainless steel by spraying method. This research studied the parameter effects on the conductivity and the corrosion of coated metal. Studied parameters were types of binders (epoxy resin and Zn resin), types of graphite powder, the amount of graphite powder, thickness of coating and temperature before and after coating. As the results, carbon composite with epoxy resin binder had higher Interfacial Contact Resistance (ICR) than Zn resin binder. Carbon brush powder (CB) and graphite (BDH) gave higher the in-plane conductivity, but Carbon brush powder (CB) had lower corrosion rate. ICR and corrosion rate decreased with increasing of carbon powder. The increasing of the thickness coating from 0.05 to 0.2 mm decreased the in-plane conductivity and corrosion. The temperature before and after coating had no effect on ICR. From the cell performance test, flow field plate of stainless steel coated carbon composite gave the current density at 0.6 V (382.4 mA/cm2) lower than the commercial graphite flow field plate (422.8 mA/cm2) because stainless steel coated carbon composite flow field plate may be low stability.