Engineering FEA Sintering Model Development for Metal Supported SOFC

In a collaboration between Ceres Power and Lancaster University, funded by Innovate UK, an engineering FEA model is being developed to further understand the manufacturing processes, such as the densification of the ceria based electrolyte. In these models material properties, such as the Thermal Expansion Coefficient, Young’s Modulus, layer densification rates and creep are critical inputs. These properties, when interacting with the applied thermal processes, give rise to stresses within the layers which can result in permanent deformation and residual stresses at the end of the process steps at room temperature. A deep analytical understanding of these material-process interactions can be used to optimise sintering time, energy usage, residual part stresses or distortion in a rapid and low cost way through the use of validated CAE models. Results will be presented from the modelling techniques for an example metal supported SOFC to demonstrate the importance of the above mentioned properties. Sensitivity study results will also be presented to show the impact of variability of the manufacturing process.