Setting Material Properties

For all continua, select material components and adjust material properties.

To set the material properties:
  1. Select the material components for the Air continuum:
    1. Right-click the Models > Multi-Component Gas > Gas Components node and choose Select Mixture Components.
    2. In the Select Mixture Components dialog, expand the Material Databases > Standard > Gases node and select N2 (Nitrogen) and O2 (Oxygen).
    3. Click Apply then Close.
  2. For the Fuel continuum, follow the same steps as above, but specify the gas components as H2 (Hydrogen) and H2O (Water).
  3. Expand the following nodes:
    • Air > Models > Multi-Component Gas > Gas Components
    • Fuel > Models > Multi-Component Gas > Gas Components
  4. Multi-select the following nodes in the Air and Fuel continua and set Method to Thermodynamic Polynomial Data:
    • N2 > Material Properties > Specific Heat
    • O2 > Material Properties > Specific Heat
    • H2 > Material Properties > Specific Heat
    • H2O > Material Properties > Specific Heat
  5. Multi-select the following nodes in the Air and Fuel continua and set Method to Constant:
    • N2 > Material Properties > Molecular Weight
    • O2 > Material Properties > Molecular Weight
    • H2 > Material Properties > Molecular Weight
    • H2O > Material Properties > Molecular Weight
  6. Set the material properties for the porous phases within the Air and Fuel continua.
    1. Expand the Continua > Air > Models > Porous Media > Porous Phases > conductor-cathode > Models > Solid > Al > Material Properties node and set the following:
      Node Property Setting
      Density
      Constant Value 7450.0 kg/m^3
      Electrical Conductivity
      Constant Value 12800.0 S/m
      Specific Heat
      Constant Value 600.0 J/kg-K
      Thermal Conductivity
      Constant Value 10.0 W/m-K
    2. Expand the Continua > Fuel > Models > Porous Media > Porous Phases > conductor-anode > Models > Solid > Al > Material Properties node and set the following:
      Node Property Setting
      Density
      Constant Value 7450.0 kg/m^3
      Electrical Conductivity
      Constant Value 30300 S/m
      Specific Heat
      Constant Value 600.0 J/kg-K
      Thermal Conductivity
      Constant Value 6.0 W/m-K
The anode and cathode are made of porous ceramic materials. It is important to make sure that the correct electrical and thermal conductivities are specified for the material properties.
  1. Edit the CCanode > Models > Solid > Anode > Material Properties node and set the following values:
    Node Property Setting
    Density
    Constant Value 7450.0 kg/m^3
    Electrical Conductivity
    Constant Value 9400000.0 S/m
    Specific Heat
    Constant Value 600.0 J/kg-K
    Thermal Conductivity
    Constant Value 27.0 W/m-K
The anode current collector and cathode current collector have the same material properties.
  1. Make a copy of the CCanode node and rename it CCcathode.
  2. Rename the CCcathode > Models > Solid > Anode node Cathode.
  3. Edit the Continua > Mem > Models > Solid > MEM > Material Properties node and set the following values:
    Node Property Setting
    Density
    Constant Value 6000.0 kg/m^3
    Electrical Conductivity Method Field Function
    Field Function Scalar Function ElectrolyteConductivity
    Specific Heat
    Constant Value 400.0 J/kg-K
    Thermal Conductivity
    Constant Value 2.7 W/m-K
  4. To define the electrical species components within the SOFC membrane, expand the Mem > Models > Solid Ion node:
    1. Right-click the Electrochemical Species Components node and choose Select Mixture Components.
    2. In the Select Mixture Components dialog, expand the Material Databases > Standard > ElectrochemicalSpecies node and select O-2 (Oxide).
    3. Click Apply, then Close.
  5. Save the simulation.