Kinetics of crack healing and self-repair behaviors in a sealant glass for SOFC applications

A sealant is required for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to maintain hermeticity at high operating temperatures, keep fuel and oxidant from mixing, and avoid shorting of the cell stack. Glass and glass–ceramic materials are widely used as a sealant because their properties can be tailored to meet the stringent requirements of SOFC stack, but they are susceptible to cracking. In contrast, a promising concept of self-repairable glass for seals is pursued for making reliable seals that can self-repair cracks at the SOFC operating temperatures. This concept is studied through measuring crack-healing kinetics and independent measurement of glass viscosity for relating to the observed self-repair. The cracks on the glass surface are created using a Vickers indenter to achieve a well-defined crack geometry, and then the glass is exposed to elevated temperatures for different length of times to study the crack-healing kinetics. The crack-healing kinetics is compared with the predictions of our theoretical model and found to be in good agreement. In addition, glass viscosity is extracted from the healing kinetics and compared with the independent measurement of viscosity measured from the dilatometry and sintering data to further validate the crack-healing theoretical model. These results are presented and discussed.