The elastomeric gasket is one of the key components in the proton exchange membrane （PEM） fuel cell. During the long-term operation of the PEM fuel cell, the damage of the gasket material is critical to the durability of the PEM fuel cell. In this paper, the silicone rubber elastomeric material, which is widely used for PEM fuel cells, was selected and studied. The fatigue damage was investigated for the gasket material exposed to the simulated PEM fuel cell environments in this work. Two solutions were selected to simulate the PEM fuel cell environment, one was close to the real PEM fuel cell environment, namely regular solution （RS）, and the other was the accelerated durability test （ADT） solution for accelerated damage test. Compression fatigue tests and flexural fatigue tests were performed to study the fatigue damage behavior of the gasket material for exposure to two solutions. The result of compression fatigue tests shows that the PEM fuel cell simulation environment and aging time have an important influence on the compression fatigue temperature rise of the sample. The fatigue temperature rises of the sample exposed to the ADT solution was higher than that to the RS solution. With the aging time increased, the fatigue temperature rises of the sample increased, and the fatigue damage intensified. The result of flexural fatigue tests shows that the PEM fuel cell simulation environment and aging time have a significant impact on the fatigue life of the sample. The fatigue life of the sample exposed to the ADT solution is shorter than that to the RS solution; With the aging time increased, the fatigue life of the sample decreased.
Key words
proton exchange membrane /
fuel cells /
gaskets /
fatigue damage /
aging
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