Use of Natural Silica Sand as a Component for Prospective Fuel Cell Sealing Materials

Abstract:

A study to enhance the value of natural silica sand from Tanah Laut, South Kalimantan, Indonesia has been initiated. A number of local sands were selected as the candidates for the study. The selected sand contained more than 90% quartz and was further processed to obtain a high purity initial powder using magnetic separation and immersion with HCl. The sealing materials were prepared by mixing the natural-sand-based silica (SiO2) powder with magnesia (MgO) and boria (B2O3) with composition of 70:10:20 by weight followed by uniaxial pressing and finally sintering at 1150°C for 1h and 4 h to produce ceramic composites. XRD measurement revealed that the ceramic contained quartz, protoenstatite, and clinoenstatite. The 1h and 4h ceramics exhibited 1.89% and 0.43% apparent porosity, 7.00 106 and 6.63106 cm electrical resistivity, 3.60 and 2.29 GPa Vickers microhardness, and 11.2010-6 and 11.5510-6 ppm/°C thermal expansion coefficient respectively. The 4h sample is more appropriate for sealing function in fuel cell than the 1h sample.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 1123)
• Pages: 383-386
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1123.383
• Online since: August 2015
• Authors: Musyarofah Musyarofah, Upik Nurbaiti, Egidius Dewa, Triwikantoro Triwikantoro, Mashuri Mashuri, Sukma Firdaus, Pratapa Suminar*
• Keywords: Natural Silica Sand, Seal Fuel Cell, SiO₂+MgO+B₂O₃ System

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