Lanthanum chromite (LaCrO3) is one of the most adequate materials for use as interconnector in solid oxide fuel cell applications, due to its intrinsic properties, namely its good electrical conductivity and resistance to environment conditions in fuel cell operations. Due to difficulties in sintering, additives are usually added to help in the densification process. In this work, the influence of added cobalt and strontium, time and temperature in the sintering of LaCrO3 obtained by combustion synthesis, was studied. The LaCrO3 powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement method, scanning electronic microscopy, specific surface area and particle size determination. The sintered LaCrO3 samples were characterized by Archimedes method, scanning electronic microscopy, and dilatometric measurements. The results show that sintering temperatures is more effective than sintering times and the increase of dopants concentration contributes strongly in the sintering processes and densification. The results show that sintering temperatures is more effective than sintering times and by increasing the strontium and cobalt concentrations it is possible to reduce the temperature of sintering. Using both additives, the sintering processes took place in lesser times than normally used for this material, as well as greater values of density were attained.
sintering; lanthanum chromite; interconnector; SOFC
