Abstract
Filled skutterudite is a promising material for thermoelectric power generation because its ZT value is relatively high. However, mass production of high-performance thermoelectric materials remains a challenge. This study focused on the sintering process of thermoelectric materials. Large-diameter n-type (Yb or La, Ca, Al, Ga, In)0.8(Co, Fe)4Sb12 skutterudite sintering bodies with a small thickness were successfully produced by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. When direct current flows through the thermoelectric sintering body during the SPS pulse, the Peltier effect causes a temperature difference within the sintering body. To eliminate the Peltier effect, an electrical insulating material was inserted between the punch (electrode) and the sintering body. In this way, an n-type La-filled skutterudite sample with a diameter of 200 mm, thickness of 21 mm, and weight of 5 kg was successfully produced. The thermoelectric properties and microstructures of the sample were almost the same throughout the whole sintering body, and the dimensionless figure of merit reached 1.0 at 773 K.
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Tomida, T., Sumiyoshi, A., Nie, G. et al. Fabrication of 200 mm Diameter Sintering Body of Skutterudite Thermoelectric Material by Spark Plasma Sintering. J. Electron. Mater. 46, 2944–2949 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-016-5073-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-016-5073-5