Residual Stresses and Forming Quality of Metal Bipolar Plates for PEMFC During the Stamping Process

Stamping is a critical step in the manufacture of metallic bipolar plates.Typically,residual stress and a spring back effect appear on the bipolar plate after the stamping process,which impacts on the performance and lifetime of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC).The residual stress and spring back behavior which occur as a result of stamping a bipolar plate are investigated in this study.The effects of the punch radius,the die radius,the channel depth,and the clearance between the punch and the die on the residual stress and forming quality of the bipolar plate are examined.The stamping process can be divided into three stages.The high stress area and the middle section residual stress area were selected to study the formation process and to obtain the composition of the residual stress regions.Spring back was mainly related to the position of the fixed end of the sheet and the degree of plastic deformation,and the sheet thickness have increased by 2μm after spring back.Based on the results of finite element analysis,as described by the distribution of residual stress,the formation,the thickness of the middle cross section and the equivalent plastic strain,it was found that all the tool parameters affected the distribution of the residual stress.This research can provide a design reference for the manufacture of metallic bipolar plates based on the stamping process.