Stainless Steel Porous Substrates Produced by Tape Casting

In this work the technological issues related to the production of tape cast large-area porous stainless steel supports for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) applications were carefully investigated. The slurry formulation was optimized in terms of amount and nature of the organic components needed: rice starch and poly methyl metacrylate were found to be, respectively, the most suitable pore former and binder because easily eliminated during the thermal treatment in reducing atmosphere. The compatibility of the binder system chosen with the most widely used solvents for screen printing inks was also evaluated. Finally the influence of the sintering temperature and of the refractory supports to be used during the thermal treatments onto the production of porous stainless steel supports was discussed. The whole process optimization allows to produce flat, crack-free metallic substrate 900-1000 gm thick, dimensions up to 5x5 cm and with a tailored porosity of 40% suitable for SOFCs application.