ABSTRACT

Plates and Plate Materials ............................................................. 311 5.3 Traditionally Used Materials of Bipolar Plates and Major

Technical Barriers ...................................................................................... 314 5.4 Progress and Challenges in the Development of Bipolar Plate

Materials ...................................................................................................... 315 5.4.1 Composite Plates ............................................................................ 316

5.4.1.1 Carbon/Carbon Composite Plates ................................ 317 5.4.1.2 Thermoset-Based Composite Plates ............................. 319 5.4.1.3 Thermoplastic-Based Composite Plates ....................... 321

5.4.2 Metal Plates ....................................................................................... 325 5.4.2.1 Types of Metals Used in Metal Plates .......................... 326 5.4.2.2 Key Fabrication Processing ............................................ 328

5.5 New Activities and Development Trends ..............................................333 5.5.1 Development of New Materials with Better Performance

and Durability ................................................................................334 5.5.2 Development of New Manufacturing Processes with

Higher Efficiency and Lower Cost ..............................................335 5.5.3 Strong Competition between Different Candidate

Materials and Processing ..............................................................336 5.5.4 Scale-up from Lab-Scale to Large-Quantity Production .........336