Effect of plastic deformation on the corrosion resistance of ferritic stainless steel as a bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Stainless steel is one of the best candidate materials for bipolar plate of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and there have been several manufacturing techniques for stainless steel bipolar plate. The deformation from manufacturing process for bipolar plate can induce the corrosion problem of bipolar plate. The deformed and the stamped stainless steels were examined by evaluating the corrosion resistance to understand the effect of the deformation on the stainless steel as a bipolar plate. The deformation of the stainless steel can significantly affect the corrosion resistance and the deformation from the shaping process for bipolar plate can induce the local anodic sites on the bipolar plate. Therefore, from the corrosion point of view, the shaping process for the bipolar plate is an important factor and the corrosion possibility by shaping process should be considered when selecting the optimum shaping method.