Investigation on Mechanical Properties of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer through a 3-D Nonlinear and Orthotropic Constitutive Model

The mechanical loads that gas diffusion layers (GDLs) withstand in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks are sensitive to the assembly and working conditions. properties of GDLs mostly depend on their composition materials, microstructural characteristics, operation conditions, etc. An accurate comprehensive understanding performance is significant for predicting stress distribution improving technology PEMFC stacks. This study presented a novel 3-D nonlinear orthotropic constitutive model carbon paper GDL represent material stiffness matrix with its compressive, tensile, shear properties. Numerical simulations were performed based model, proposed was validated against experimental data reported previously. It found simulation results show good agreement results. Besides, applied overall simplified unit cell, compared conventional linear isotropic two models difference.