US 12,172,388 B2
Method for manufacturing fuel cell separator
Tatsuya Nagata, Nagoya (JP); Kazuyuki Hirata, Toyota (JP); Yuki Wakimoto, Nagoya (JP); Noriaki Takagi, Okazaki (JP); Masakuni Takagi, Okazaki (JP); Yuusuke Nagatani, Okazaki (JP); Daisuke Watanabe, Okazaki (JP); and Kazuo Matsuyama, Okazaki (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA BOSHOKU KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Aichi-ken (JP); and TAKAGI CHEMICALS, INC., Aichi-ken (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA BOSHOKU KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Aichi-ken (JP); and TAKAGI CHEMICALS, INC., Aichi-ken (JP)
Filed on May 24, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/752,160.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-091382 (JP), filed on May 31, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0379569 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. B29C 69/02 (2006.01); H01M 8/0254 (2016.01); B29K 101/12 (2006.01); B29K 105/00 (2006.01); B29L 31/34 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 69/02 (2013.01) [H01M 8/0254 (2013.01); B29K 2101/12 (2013.01); B29K 2105/256 (2013.01); B29L 2031/3468 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for manufacturing a fuel cell separator made of material that contains a thermoplastic resin and conductive carbon material particles, the fuel cell separator including a gas passage through which reactant gas flows, the method comprising:
heating a sheet made of material that contains a thermoplastic resin and conductive carbon material particles dispersed in the thermoplastic resin;
pressing the sheet heated in the heating using a first die that includes a first fixed die and a first movable die that is movable toward and away from the first fixed die, thereby forming the sheet so as to have a predetermined thickness;
cooling, together with the first die, the sheet that has been formed so as to have the predetermined thickness through the pressing using the first die; and
pressing the sheet that has undergone the cooling using a second die that includes a second fixed die and a second movable die that is movable toward and away from the second fixed die, thereby forming the gas passage in the sheet, wherein
a content of the thermoplastic resin is greater than or equal to 20 weight percent and less than or equal to 30 weight percent and a content of the carbon material particles is greater than or equal to 70 weight percent and less than or equal to 80 weight percent in the sheet, and
the heating the sheet includes heating the sheet to a temperature that is higher than a melting point of the thermoplastic resin.