Nisshinbo Industries, Inc.

Nisshinbo Chemical Inc.

Nisshinbo Holdings Inc.

Nisshinbo Chemicals Inc.

Fumio Tanno

Kazuo Saito

Atsushi Hagiwara

Yasuo Imashiro

Naofumi Horie

Tsutomu Uehara

Toshiharu Okamoto

Kazutoshi Hamada

Yasuhito Nakagawa

A fuel cell separator which is obtained by molding a composition that contains a carbonaceous material and a resin, and which is provided with a sealing part and a groove that serves as a gas flow channel on one surface or both surfaces. This fuel cell separator is configured such that the arithmetic mean heights Sa of the surface of the sealing part and the bottom surface and the peak of the groove on at least one surface are 0.50-1.60 μm and the profile peak heights Spk thereof are 1.50 μm or less as determined in accordance with ISO 25178-2 (2012). Consequently, this fuel cell separator has good hydrophilicity and good adhesion to a gasket.

Fuel cell separator

The present invention is a resin composition for dense fuel cell separators, which contains a graphite powder and an epoxy resin component that contains a base material, a curing agent and a curing accelerator, and wherein: the graphite powder has a spring back of 20-70% and an average particle diameter d50 of 30-100 &#x3bc;m; and the curing accelerator is an imidazole compound that has an aryl group in the 2-position. This resin composition for dense fuel cell separators enables the achievement of a dense separator for fuel cells, which satisfies a predetermined performance even in cases where the separator is compression molded in a short time that is less than 10 seconds.

Resin composition for dense fuel cell separators

Provided is a fuel cell separator obtained by molding a composition that contains an epoxy resin and a graphite powder, wherein: the epoxy resin contains a main resin, a curing agent, and a curing accelerator; the main resin contains a biphenyl novolak-type epoxy resin having an ICI viscosity of 0.03-0.12 Pa&#xb7;s at 150&#xb0; C.; and the curing agent is a novolak-type phenol resin having a weight-average molecular weight of 420-1,500 and a dispersion degree of 2.0 or less.

A fuel cell separator obtained by: roughening the surface of a compact formed by molding a composition containing graphite powder, an epoxy resin, and a phenol resin; treating the compact with infrared laser irradiation; and then performing a hydrophilizing treatment, wherein a fuel cell separator is provided having the characteristics that (1) the initial static contact angle is no greater than 20&#xb0;, and (2) after manufacture, the static contact angle after being stored in atmospheric air for 3000 hours is no greater than 30&#xb0;. This fuel cell separator has high hydrophilicity, allowing water generated during the electrical generation of the fuel cell to be easily discharged, and the hydrophilicity is maintained over a long period of time.

Provided is a fuel cell separator that has excellent resistance to heat and hot water and has a glass transition temperature between 140&#xb0; C. and 165&#xb0; C. Said fuel cell separator is formed by curing a composition containing a graphite material and a binder component resin. The binder component resin contains a cresol novolac epoxy resin having a hydrolysable chlorine content of at most 450 ppm and an epoxy equivalent weight of 192-210 g/eq, a phenol resin having a hydroxyl equivalent weight of 103-106 g/eq, and an imidazole compound having a molecular weight between 140 and 180.

A fuel cell separator is molded from a resin composition containing specific amounts of graphite, thermosetting resin and internal release agent. The graphite is a synthetic graphite powder prepared by graphitizing lump coke. The thermosetting resin is a mixture of phenolic novolac, benzoxazine and polycarbodiimide resins. The molded separator does not need to be machined, has a significantly improved electrical conductivity, heat resistance and mechanical strength, and even when very thin is resistant to breakage during molding and fuel cell assembly.

Fuel cell separator and method of manufacture

A separator for fuel cell, obtained by molding a resin composition comprising 100 parts by weight of a graphite, 15 to 30 parts by weight of a bisphenol A type epoxy resin, 2 to 4 parts by weight of a phenolic resin, and 1 to 10 parts by weight of a polycarbodiimide resin, which, unlike the prior art, is superior in moldability, electrical conductivity and mechanical strength and causes no cracking during molding even when made in a small thickness.

Separator for fuel cell

Disclosed herein are an electrically conductive resinous composition composed mainly of an electrically conductive carbon powder and a binding agent, wherein said binding agent is a mixture of a thermoplastic resin and a carbodiimide compound, a fuel cell separator and a process for production thereof, and polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The present invention permits efficient mass production of fuel cell separators having high elasticity, good releasability, good dimensional accuracy, and good gas impermeability. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell, in which all or part of separators are those pertaining to the present invention, is immune to the cracking of separators at the time of assembling, decreases only a little in output after continuous operation, and exhibits good gas sealing performance and high impact resistance.

Electrically conductive resinous composition, fuel cell separator and production thereof, and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

ELECTROCONDUCTIVE RESIN COMPOSITION, FUEL CELL SEPARATOR MADE OF SAID ELECTROCONDUCTIVE RESIN COMPOSITION, PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF SAID FUEL CELL SEPARATOR, AND SOLID POLYMER TYPE FUEL CELL USING SAID FUEL CELL SEPARATOR

The present invention provides a separator for fuel cell which alleviates the problems of the prior art, which has high conductivity, high gas impermeability and high strength, and which can be produced easily. The separator for fuel cell according to the present invention is a molding comprising a conductive carbon powder and a polymer compound, wherein the conductive carbon powder in the molding has an aspect ratio of 4 to 60.

Separator for fuel cells

The present invention provides a separator for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, having, at the surface contacting with the electrode of the fuel cell, a surface roughness of Ra&equals;0.1 to 10 &mgr;m when measured by a surface roughness tester having a probe of 5 &mgr;m in front end diameter; and a process for producing the above separator for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which process comprises immersing a molding of a separator for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, in an acidic solution. The above separator for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell alleviates the problems of the prior art and has low contact resistance at the interface with the electrode of the fuel cell.

Separator for polymeric electrolyte fuel cell having a roughened surface

Separator for polymer electrolyte fuel cells and processes for production thereof

The present invention provides a carbon composite material which is a molded material comprising (a) an expanded graphite powder and (b) a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin or a fired product of the thermosetting resin, and the expanded graphite powder (a) being dispersed in the component (b), wherein the expanded graphite powder has an average particle diameter of 5-12 .mu.m and at least 80% of the total particles of the expanded graphite powder have particle diameters of 0.1-20 .mu.m; and a process for producing a carbon composite material, which comprises mixing and dispersing a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin and the expanded graphite powder as mentioned above, and then pressure-molding the resulting mixture at room temperature to 400.degree. C., or a process for producing a carbon composite material, which comprises mixing and dispersing a thermosetting resin and the expanded graphite powder as mentioned above, pressure-molding the resulting mixture at room temperature to 400.degree. C., and firing the resulting molding at 700-3,000.degree. C. in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The carbon composite material produced by the above process is free from the problems of the prior art and is superior in both gas non-permeability and electroconductivity.

Process for production of a carbon composite material

The present invention provides a carbon composite material which is a molded material comprising (a) an expanded graphite powder and (b) a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin or a fired product of the thermosetting resin, and the expanded graphite powder (a) being dispersed in the component (b); wherein the expanded graphite powder has an average particle diameter of 5-12 .mu.m and at least 80% of the total particles of the expanded graphite powder have particle diameters of 0.1-20 .mu.m; and a process for producing a carbon composite material, which comprises mixing and dispersing a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin and the expanded graphite powder as mentioned above, and then pressure-molding the resulting mixture at room temperature to 400.degree. C., or a process for producing a carbon composite material, which comprises mixing and dispersing a thermosetting resin and the expanded graphite powder as mentioned above, pressure-molding the resulting mixture at room temperature to 400.degree. C., and firing the resulting molding at 700.degree.-3,000.degree. C. in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The carbon composite material produced by the above process is free from the problems of the prior art and is superior in both gas non-permeability and electroconductivity.

Growing community of inventors

Chiba, Japan

Fumio Tanno