Composition and processing of metallic interconnects for SOFC stacks

1. A method of fabricating an interconnect for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

providing particles of Fe and Cr in a die cavity of a powder press apparatus;

compressing the particles in the powder press apparatus to form the interconnect; and

sintering the interconnect after compressing the particles;

wherein the Fe particles have a multimodal particle size distribution or a broad monomodal particle size distribution containing smaller Fe particles having a d50 of 7-40 microns and larger Fe particles having a d50 of 60 to 150 microns;

wherein after sintering the interconnect comprises Fe-rich regions,

wherein the larger Fe particles are selectively provided at a fuel side of the interconnect to form the Fe-rich regions on the fuel side of the interconnect.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particle size distribution is multimodal.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the multimodal particle size distribution is a bimodal particle size distribution.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the smaller Fe particles having the d50 of 7-40 microns comprise 10%-20% by weight of the total Fe particles and the larger particles having the d50 of 60 to 150 microns comprise 80%-90% by weight of the total Fe particles.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a weight ratio of the smaller Fe particles having the d50 of 7-40 microns to the larger particles having the d50 of 60 to 150 microns is between 1:1 and 50:1.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the larger Fe particles are selectively provided only in rib tip regions on the fuel side of the interconnect to form the Fe-rich regions only in the rib tip regions on the fuel side of the interconnect.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particle size distribution comprises the monomodal particle size distribution containing smaller Fe particles having the d50 of 7-40 microns and larger Fe particles having the d50 of 60 to 150 microns.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interconnect comprises at least about 90 wt % chromium and less than about 10 wt % iron and the fuel cell stack comprises a solid oxide fuel cell stack.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particles are provided to the die cavity with a carbon containing lubricant material such that at least a portion of the carbon remains in a completed interconnect.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding carbon to the particles such that at least a portion of the carbon remains in a completed interconnect.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Fe-rich regions comprise at least 50% more Fe than non-Fe-rich regions.

12. A method of fabricating an interconnect for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

providing particles of Fe and Cr in a die cavity of a powder press apparatus;

compressing the particles in the powder press apparatus to form the interconnect: and

sintering the interconnect after compressing the particles;

wherein the Fe particles have a multimodal particle size distribution or a broad monomodal particle size distribution containing smaller Fe particles having a d50 of 7-40 microns and larger Fe particles having a d50 of 60 to 150 microns;

wherein after sintering the interconnect comprises Fe-rich regions,

wherein the larger Fe particles are selectively provided at a fuel side of the interconnect to form the Fe-rich regions on the fuel side of the interconnect,

wherein the step of providing particles of Fe and Cr in the die cavity comprises providing the Cr particles and the smaller Fe particles in the die cavity followed by providing the Cr particles and the larger Fe particles over the smaller Fe particles in the die cavity, such that the Fe-rich regions are located only on the fuel side of the interconnect after the sintering.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of compressing is conducted after providing the Cr particles and the larger Fe particles.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of compressing is first conducted after providing the Cr particles and the smaller Fe particles in the die cavity and before providing the Cr particles and the larger Fe particles over the smaller Fe particles in the die cavity, and is then conducted again after providing the Cr particles and the larger Fe particles over the smaller Fe particles in the die cavity.

15. A method of fabricating an interconnect for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

providing particles of Fe and Cr in a die cavity of a powder press apparatus;

compressing the particles in the powder press apparatus to form the interconnect; and

sintering the interconnect after compressing the particles;

wherein the Fe particles have a multimodal particle size distribution or a broad monomodal particle size distribution containing smaller Fe particles having a d50 of 7-40 microns and larger Fe particles having a d50 of 60 to 150 microns;

wherein after sintering the interconnect comprises Fe-rich regions,

wherein the Fe particle size distribution and weight distribution are graded, such that the larger Fe particles are located nearer the fuel side of the interconnect than an air side of the interconnect, and more Fe by weight is located nearer the air side of the interconnect than the fuel side of the interconnect.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the Fe particle size distribution and weight distribution are graded during the step of providing particles of Fe and Cr in the die cavity by perturbing a powder of particles of Fe and Cr during or after filling of the die cavity with the powder.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the Fe particle size distribution and weight distribution are graded by successively filling the die cavity with the larger Fe particles and the smaller Fe particles.