STRESS TEST EVALUATION OF COBALT-ENHANCED NICKEL PLAQUE ELECTRODES

The addition of cobalt to the surface of aerospace-quality sintered ni ckel plaque was observed to improve plate performance during a 5000 cy cle stress test. A two-level, four-factor full factorial design matrix was established to compare the performance of cobalt-enhanced nickel plates with standard aerospace quality nickel plates during testing. T he three other factors were loading level, current density during elec trochemical impregnation and the concentration of KOH electrolyte. Reg ression analysis after 4000 cycles indicates that nickel plates fabric ated from cobalt-enhanced plaque using a low current density during th e electrochemical impregnation step provides the best performance duri ng high rate charge/discharge applications. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.