Parametrical coordinates and microsamples to investigate real SOFCs in operating stacks

One of the issues defining the performance of an SOFC stack is to estimate and check during operation the behavior of all components (i.e. cell, sealant, interconnects). Each component has at least one function which is not strictly related to the power or heat generation but all are strategic due to their contribution to the degradation of the whole stack. The model based approach leads to identify zones of the stack by their operating parameters (e.g. T, j, P) corresponding to an univocal material response. In this paper, an experiment combining the parametrical coordinates with real samples in order to contribute to the study of real stacks is presented. The sample and the experiment itself are cost effective and offer the opportunity to soundly contribute to the assessment of stack components behavior in the "real world". The research was carried out in the frame of the FCH-JU project ENDURANCE.