US 8802328

Patent Overview — US8802328B2

Title: Method of producing a shaped part
Assignee: Plansee SE (original and current assignee, per the source)
Inventors: Marco Brandner, Stefan Gerzoskovitz, Wolfgang Kraussler, Alexander Leuprecht, Andreas Venskutonis
Priority date: 2009-12-15
Application: US14/204,500, filed 2014-03-11
Published (US20140193287A1): 2014-07-10
Granted / published as US8802328B2: 2014-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-15
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US8802328](/patent/US8802328)/en

Purpose
The patent concerns powder-metallurgy shaped parts made by pressing and sintering a pulverulent starting material, particularly interconnectors and end plates for fuel cell stacks (including SOFC stacks). These parts act as current collectors, separate anode and cathode reaction gases, and channel the reaction gases. They are thin plates (in practice 1–5 mm) bearing knob-like and/or ridge-like elevations. The excerpt notes that high-chromium alloys used for such parts are brittle and hard to press, and that pressing must yield high sealing and density.

Plain-language scope
The shaping is defined by geometry of the elevations: a radius R (or R′) of 0.15–1 mm at the transition, and a height h set so the ratio R:h (or R′:h) is 0.25–1. Embodiments narrow these to preferred and more preferred ranges (for example radius 0.3–1 mm and ratio 0.5–1, or 0.7–1), and include an incline angle α (or α′) of 95°–120° (preferred 95°–110°). The excerpt states that outside these limits density and homogeneity drop markedly, so single-stage pressing is no longer assured. Example materials include alloys with at least 20 wt% chromium, such as 20–30 wt% Cr with 70–80 wt% of an iron prealloy containing 0.5–0.8 wt% rare earths (e.g., yttrium), or 95 wt% Cr with 5 wt% of such an iron prealloy. FEM (Drucker–Prager Cap) simulations and a comparison table are described, but the excerpt is truncated mid-sentence.

What the excerpt does not establish
It does not give the full claims, complete description, or full numerical results; the text ends mid-sentence. It does not cover prosecution history, validity, ownership transfers, or litigation, which were excluded from research per instructions.