FABRICATION OF INTEGRATED METAL SUPPORT FOR HIGH POWER DENSITY SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL

A method of forming a fuel cell layer includes forming a separator plate (20) including a plurality of corrugations defining a plurality of anode flow channels (30) at a first side of the separator plate and a plurality of cathode flow channels (32) at a second side of the separator plate opposite the first side. A support layer (22) is formed, including a porous portion and a solid portion at least partially surrounding the porous portion. The support layer and the separator plate are stacked, and the support layer is secured to the separator plate via a field-assisted sintering or spark plasma sintering (FAST) process.