Simulation and analysis of sintering warping and thermal stress for a cermet half-cell of solid oxide fuel cells

Warping deformation often appears due to internal thermal stress generated during sintering process of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) functional layers composed of metal and ceramic composite materials. In this study, a model is developed for a half-cell of an anode-supported design SOFC to simulate warping displacement and thermal stress generated at the highest sintering temperature of 1673 K. A sensitivity analysis is further conducted, and the orthogonal experimental method is applied for parameter optimization. The predicted results reveal that the warping displacement is reduced by 64.3%, while the maximum thermal stress decreases by 55.8% as combined parameters are optimized. In addition, the effects of thickness and fillet treatment on the thermal stress and deformation are also investigated. It is found that the anode support layer is a dominant factor, and its thickness should not be less than 550 μm; the thickness of the electrolyte layer should be maintained at 20 μm; while the treatment of 10 mm fillets on the 10 × 10 cm2 scaled half-cells is favorite.