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Stresses In Proton Exchange Membranes Due To Hygro-Thermal Loading, Yaliang Tang, Michael H. Santare, Anette M. Karlsson, Simon Cleghorn, William B. Johnson

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Durability of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) is a major technical barrier to the commercial viability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for stationary and transportation applications. In order to reach Department of Energy objectives for automotive PEMFCs, an operating design lifetime of at least 5000 h over a broad temperature range is required. Reaching these lifetimes is an extremely difficult technical challenge. Though good progress has been made in recent years, there are still issues that need to be addressed to assure successful, economically viable, long-term operation of PEM fuel cells. Fuel cell lifetime is currently limited by …