A nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for ionomer membranes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

    Authors

    W. Yoon;X. Y. Huang

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Power Sources

    Keywords

    PEMFC; Nafion; Ionomer membrane; Viscoelastic; Viscoplastic; Constitutive model; TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR; MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES; PLASTIC-DEFORMATION; TEMPERATURE; ELASTOMERS; HYDRATION; STRESS; PERFORMANCE; FORMULATION; HUMIDITY; Electrochemistry; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    This paper describes a phenomenological constitutive model for ionomer membranes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Unlike the existing approaches of elasto-plastic, viscoelastic, and viscoplastic model, the proposed model was inspired by micromechanisms of polymer deformation. The constitutive model is a combination of the nonlinear visco-elastic Bergstrom-Boyce model and hydration-temperature-dependent empirical equations for elastic modulus of ionomer membranes. Experiment results obtained from an uniaxial tension test for Nafion NR-111 membrane under well controlled environments were compared with simulated results by the finite element method (FEM) and the proposed model showed fairly good predictive capabilities for the large deformation behavior of the Nafion membrane subjected to the uniaxial loading condition in a wide range of relative humidity and temperature levels including liquid water. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Power Sources

    Volume

    196

    Issue/Number

    8

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    3933

    Last Page

    3941

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000288355100035

    ISSN

    0378-7753

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