Evaluation of Ni–Cr-base alloys for SOFC interconnect applications

To further understand the suitability of Ni–Cr-base alloys for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) interconnect applications, three commercial Ni–Cr-base alloys, Haynes 230, Hastelloy S and Haynes 242 were selected and evaluated for oxidation behavior under different exposure conditions, scale conductivity and thermal expansion. Haynes 230 and Hastelloy S, which have a relatively high Cr content, formed a thin scale mainly comprised of Cr2O3 and (Mn,Cr,Ni)3O4 spinels under SOFC operating conditions, demonstrating excellent oxidation resistance and a high scale electrical conductivity. In contrast, a thick double-layer scale with a NiO outer layer above a chromia-rich substrate was grown on Haynes 242 in moist air or at the air side of dual exposure samples, indicating limited oxidation resistance for the interconnect application. With a face-centered-cubic (FCC) substrate, all three alloys possess a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is higher than that of candidate ferritic stainless steels, e.g. Crofer22 APU. Among the three alloys, Haynes 242, which is heavily alloyed with W and Mo and contains a low Cr content, demonstrated the lowest average CTE at 13.1 × 10−6 K−1 from room temperature to 800 °C, but it was also observed that the CTE behavior of Haynes 242 was very non-linear.