• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.243-248
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• 2016

Although thermoset carbon fiber composite bipolar plates not only have high mechanical properties but also high corrosion resistance in acid environment, high manufacturing cost and low bulk electrical conductivity are the biggest obstacle to overcome. In this research, thermoplastic polymer is employed for the matrix of carbon composite bipolar plate to increase both the manufacturing productivity and bulk electric conductivity of the bipolar plate. In order to increase the electrical conductivity and strength, plain type carbon fabric rather than chopped or unidirectional fibers is used. Also nano particles are embedded in the thermoplastic matrix to increase the bulk resistance of the bipolar plate. The area specific resistance and the mechanical strength of the developed bipolar plate are measured with respect to the environmental temperature and stack compaction pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.788-795
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• 2013

A magnesium bipolar plate whose surface was protected by thinly deposited silver layer was investigated as an alternative to existing graphite bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells. Thin silver layer of $3{\mu}m$ was deposited on a magnesium alloy substrate by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method in an environment of $180^{\circ}C$. A number of tests were conducted on the fabricated magnesium based bipolar plates to determine their suitability for use in PEM fuel cell stacks. The test on corrosion resistance in the same pH condition as in a PEM operation demonstrated the layer protected the magnesium alloy substrate, while unprotected substrate suffered from severe corrosion. The contact resistance of the fabricated bipolar plate was less than $20m{\Omega}-cm^2$ which was superior to the conventional bipolar plates. A single cell was constructed using the fabricated bipolar plates and power output was measured. Due to the enhanced conductivity caused by low contact resistance, slight increase was observed in current density and output voltage. With low density of the magnesium substrate and ease on machining, the weight reduction of the stack of 30~40 % is possible to produce the same power output.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2010

For the successful cold starting of a fuel cell engine, either internal of external heat supply must be made to overcome the formation of ice from water below the freezing point of water. In the present study, switchable vanadium oxide compounds as variable temperature-electrical resistance materials onto the surface of flat metallic bipolar plates have been prepared by a dip-coating technique via an aqueous sol-gel method. Subsequently, the chemical composition and micro-structure of the polycrystalline solid thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. In addition, it was carefully measured electrical resistance hysteresis loop over a temperature range from $-20^{\circ}C$ to $80^{\circ}C$ using the four-point probe method. The experimental results revealed that the thin films was mainly composed of Karelianite $V_2O_3$ which acts as negative temperature coefficient materials. Also, it was found that thermal dissipation rate of the vanadium oxide thin films partially satisfy about 50% saving of the substantial amount of energy required for ice melting at $-20^{\circ}C$. Moreover, electrical resistances of the vanadium-based materials converge on an extremely small value similar to that of pure flat metallic bipolar plates at higher temperature, i.e. $T{\geq}40^{\circ}C$. As a consequence, experimental studies proved that it is possible to apply the variable temperature-electrical resistance material based on vanadium oxides for the cold starting enhancement of a fuel cell vehicle and minimize parasitic power loss and eliminate any necessity for external equipment for heat supply in freezing conditions.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.10-16
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• 2007

The 2-step manufacturing method consisting of preforming and stamping processes was developed to manufacture composite bipolar plates for PEMFCS. The preform was composed of expanded graphite, graphite flake and phenol resin. Procuring conditions were optimized by checking the electrical conductivity, flexural strength and microstructure. Procuring temperature $(100^{\circ}C)$ slightly above the melting point of phenol powders $(90^{\circ}C)$ induced moderate curing, but also prevented excessive curing. Preforms utilizing the tangled structure of expanded graphite were easily fabricated at low pressure of 0.07-0.28MPa. The proper procuring time, 5min, was determined to fabricate the preform stably because insufficient and excessive procuring deteriorated the flexural strength of composite bipolar plates.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.204-207
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• 2004

In this work, we present the electrochemical properties of Al bipolar plate, which can be re-searched for the application of PEMFC system. Bulk resistance of the plate was measured with a four-point probe method. The electrical conductivity of noble metal coated Al plate was 4.40 x 10$^4$ S/cm. On the other hand, the electrical interfacial resistance of the noble metal coated Al plate valued at 0.15 mΩ-$\textrm{cm}^2$ and that of graphite was 0.26 mΩ-$\textrm{cm}^2$ under the holding pressure of 140 N/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at the applied current of 5 A. And the performance of Al bipolar plate for PEMFC was evaluated at various conditions. The single cell performance was more than 0.43 W/$\textrm{cm}^2$ (0.47 Wig) for noble metal coated Al bipolar plate at 5$0^{\circ}C$ under atmospheric pressure in external humidified hydrogen and oxygen condition. As the present results, we could show the results that the noble metal coated Al bipolar plates were favorable in the aspect of electrical properties compared with those of the commercialized resin-impregnated graphite plates.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.7-7
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• 2004

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.283-288
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• 2003

• Carbon letters
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 2013

The bipolar plate is the most important and most costly component of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The development of a suitable low density bipolar plate is scientifically and technically challenging due to the need to maintain high electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. Here, bipolar plates were developed from different particle sizes of natural and expanded graphite with phenolic resin as a polymeric matrix. It was observed that the particle size of the reinforcement significantly influences the mechanical and electrical properties of a composite bipolar plate. The composite bipolar plate based on expanded graphite gives the desired mechanical and electrical properties as per the US Department of Energy target, with a bulk density of 1.55 $g.cm^{-3}$ as compared to that of ~1.87 $g.cm^{-3}$ for a composite plate based on natural graphite (NG). Although the bulk density of the expanded-graphite-based composite plate is ~20% less than that of the NG-based plate, the I-V performance of the expanded graphite plate is superior to that of the NG plate as a consequence of the higher conductivity. The expanded graphite plate can thus be used as an electromagnetic interference shielding material.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.274-283
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• 2011

The vacuum die casting is a promising candidate of the stamping process for fabrication of fuel cell bipolar plate due to its advantages, such as precision casting, mass production and short production time. This study proposes vacuum die casting process to fabricate bipolar plates in fuel cell. Bipolar plates were fabricated under various injection conditions such as molten metal temperature and injection velocity. Also, according to injection velocity conditions, simulation results of MAGMA soft were compared to the experimental results. In case of melt temperature $650^{\circ}C$, misrun occurred. When the melt temperature was $730^{\circ}C$, mechanical properties were low due to dendrite microstructure. Injection velocity has to set at more than 2.0 m/s to fabricate the sound sample. When melt temperature, injection velocity (Fast shot), and vacuum pressure are $700^{\circ}C$, 2.5 m/s and 30 kPa respectively, sample had good formability and few casting defects. Simulation results are mostly in agreement with experimental results.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.85.1-85.1
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• 2011

In this study, Grafoil$^{TM}$ which has comparable electric resistance and chemical stability but is flexible, fragile, and cheap material was adopted as bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) having only one straight line flow channel. Because of its flexibility, pressurizations of cell with various pressures showed different operating characteristics compared to ordinary graphite-used PEMFC. While performances of both cells decreased as these were pressurized, investigation of ohmic and faradaic resistance by electrochemical impedance measurement indicated different tendency of change. Ohmic resistance of graphite-used cell increased with increasing pressure, which is reversed in Grafoil$^{TM}$-used cell. It is speculated that effective chemical reaction area is decreased with increasing pressure in case of graphite-used one, but because of flexible property of Grafoil$^{TM}$, gas diffusion layer in Grafoil$^{TM}$-used cell was well-activated. Different rate of change of faradaic resistances in both cells support this supposition. However, although optimum point of pressurization is found, it is required to investigate other operating conditions because of low performance compared to graphite-used cell.