Study on the crystallization behaviour and thermal stability of glass-ceramics used as solid oxide fuel cell-sealing materials

Glass ceramics are commonly used as sealing materials for planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The major requirements of stack and module builders for these materials are the stability of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), excellent bonding (sticking) behaviour and the absence of volatile ingredients, which can lead to changes of the material properties and the sealing ability. SCHOTT Electronic Packaging has developed special glasses and glass-ceramics for various solid oxide fuel cell designs and operating temperatures. The glass compositions are based on the system MgO–Al 2O 3–BaO–SiO 2–B 2O 3. In this study the evaluation of the developed materials was done by high temperature aging tests for up to 1000 h, high temperature XRD-studies and Rietveld calculations, combined with scanning-electron microscope analysis. Samples of these aged samples were chemically analysed by XRD and wet chemical methods. Results show that after thermal aging of the glasses barium silicates accompanied by barium–magnesium silicates are the major crystalline phases of the glasses. The crystal phases remain stable during high temperature aging tests, indicating a low driving force of material change. The experimental results are compared to phase diagrams by phenomenological and thermochemical considerations.