Improving anti-oxidation performance of 430 SS by fabricating co-contained spinel coating as solid oxide fuel cells interconnect

Purpose The purpose of this study is to improve the performance of AISI 430 stainless steel (430 SS) in increasing its oxidation resistance, suppressing coating spalling and cracking, sustaining appropriate conductivity and blocking Cr evaporation as an interconnect material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells; a protective co-contained coating is formed onto stainless steel via the surface alloying process and followed by thermal oxidation. Design/methodology/approach In this work, oxidation behavior of coated specimen is studied during isothermal and cyclic oxidation measurements. Moreover, the conductivity is also investigated by area specific resistance (ASR) measurement. Findings Co-contained spinel layer shows an outstanding performance in preventing oxidation and improving conductivity compared with uncoated specimens. The protective spinel coating also reduces the ASR for coated specimen (0.0576O cm2) as compared to the uncoated specimen (1.87296O cm2) after isothermal oxidation. Originality/value The probable mechanism of co-contained alloy converting into spinel and the spinel transfer electron is presented.