Forming of metallic bipolar plate with pin-type pattern by using hydroforming process in convex die

Bipolar plates are the most important of fuel cells components. These plates are made with different methods such as machining, molding and forming and they are made of variety materials such as graphite, composite and metal plates. In this research, forming of metallic bipolar plates with pin-type pattern from stainless steel 304 with 0.11mm thickness is investigated numerically and experimentally using hydroforming process in convex die. In this regard, several parameters such as applied pressure, pin geometry, and depth to width ratio of the profiles has been changed and the experimental and simulation results of formed profiles, filling percent, thickness distribution and thinning percent of the formed parts have been compared. The results have been shown that no safe sample has been reached in depth to width ratio 1, while safe samples have been formed in depth to width ratio 0.67 in circle (a/b=1) and ellipse (a/b=0.7) samples and all samples in depth to width ratio 0.33 at 300 MPa pressure level in viewpoint of filling and thinning percentage. In general, increasing the small diameter to big diameter ratio (a/b) and decreasing the depth to width ratio (h/w) makes the thinning percent and filling percent more desirable.