Elgiloy Specialty Metals offers high-performance alloys, stainless steel, nickel-based alloys, and titanium for fuel cells and electrolyzers.

What is a Fuel Cell?

Fuel Cells are electromechanical devices designed to generate and store electrical power. Fuel cells are used in a wide variety of applications, including: Trucks, Trains, Battery Backup Systems, Boats, Subs, Cars, and Material Handling Equipment. More recently, fuels cells are available for home heating, cooling and electricity.

How a fuel cell works:

Many fuel cells are fueled by Hydrogen and air, with water as by-product/exhaust. The airflow to create the reaction is usually over wide width anodic and cathodic “bi-polar plates.” Typically,  plates are flat or mildly formed metallics, although some of the low temp PEM fuel cells will use polymers instead of metals. Each type of fuel cell is designed for a specific application and/or operating conditions (for examples, see above).

Typical Varieties Of Fuel Cells Include:

• Alkaline, SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell)

• Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (uncommon)

• PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane)

• Phosphoric Acid

Closely related to fuel cells are Electrolyzers. These utilize the same mechanism but work in reverse, harvesting Hydrogen from water.

Grades & Alloys of Fuel Cells:

Fuel cell manufacturers often utilize 300 series stainless steels with 316L as the most common choice. Richer grades of Stainless (309, 310) or nickel-based alloys are specified for fuel cells with higher temperature operating systems, such as SOFC’s and MCFC.

Titanium is common in Electrolyzers.

Combined Metals companies offer all grades and alloy for fuel cells.

Finish & Features:

ESM understands that finish and flatness are critical features for Fuel Cell manufacturers. We precision grind our rolls in-house to ensure the best finish and tension level your strip for optimal flatness. Our alloys are available from .0008″ and widths up to a meter wide. For microcells using narrower widths, we can slit down to .024″ wide.

Contact us today for more information & a quote.