Abstract
Reliable and economically efficient processes are necessary for the production of high quality coatings for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) applications in an industrial scale. In that perspective, Sulzer Metco developed several coating solutions through different processes adapted for each specific applications, in particular on metal supported cells (MSC). Diffusion barrier layers (DBL) using perovskite material, such as Lanthanum Strontium Manganite (LSM), is produced “state-of-the-art” as coating service by Sulzer Metco on metallic interconnects (IC) using the Triplex technology. The newly developed TriplexPro-200 having a long lifetime performance and specific features, like cascaded arc and 3-cathode torch, is the best candidate for producing high quality and reliable coatings in a mass production of SOFC functional layers. LPPS-Thin Film, on the other hand is the technology of choice to deposit very dense, thin and homogeneous layers on various substrates. Yttria stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) layers of 20-40 µm thickness have been deposited on thin metallic substrates (0.7 mm, 140 cm2) without producing any strong deformation of the substrate. Considering the dimension of the metallic substrate the coated cells present very good gas leak tightness performances between 2 and 8 Pa·m/s which is homogeneous on the substrate area. Moreover, LPPS-TF can also be used to produce very dense and thin LSM coatings on interconnects. In this case, LPPS-TF not only produces denser and thinner coatings but also becomes again competitive when considering the manufacturing of DBL for metallic ICs on a high production scale. This paper presents the current developments of these technologies in the domain of SOFC applications.
