Accurate evaluation of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fatigue life is essential for predicting durability in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. This study establishes a physically consistent fatigue-life prediction framework by combining stress-strain characterization of the membrane with analytical modeling based on the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) parameter and finite element simulations. Fatigue life is evaluated across a range of stress levels and environmental conditions, including different temperatures and relative humidity. The effect of spatial humidity gradients, often overlooked in earlier studies, is incorporated into the in-situ simulations, revealing localized regions of elevated stress and reduced fatigue life. The analytical and numerical approaches show strong agreement and eliminate the non-realistic long lifetimes reported in previous studies under stresses exceeding the membrane yield strength, while also showing close agreement with recent blister-test measurements. Overall, the framework enables more realistic in-situ durability assessment and provides a reliable basis for evaluating membrane performance under practical operating conditions. • Physically consistent fatigue-life model for PEM membranes is developed. • SWT-based predictions agree with finite element and blister-test results. • High stresses above yield give very short, physically realistic fatigue lives. • Humidity gradients control in-situ stress and minimum fatigue life location.
AL-Fatlwe et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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