Abstract
More than hundred diffusion couples between p- and n-type skutterudites and various materials were prepared and interaction zones were investigated after heat treatment at 600 °C for 1100 h. The constitution of reaction/diffusion zones was discussed in terms of: (a) atom site preference in the skutterudite lattice, (b) phase equilibria in multicomponent systems and (c) particularities of the crystal structure of intermediate phases. It could be shown that phase composition and thermo-mechanical properties of bonding can be engineered by chemical substitution. The results obtained allowed the determination of several necessary criteria for the development of chemically and mechanically stable diffusion barriers/couples for skutterudite based thermoelectric (TE) modules.
Highlights
Thermoelectric (TE) energy conversion enables a direct transformation of heat into electricity
The results obtained allowed the determination of several necessary criteria for the development of chemically and mechanically stable diffusion barriers/couples for skutterudite based thermoelectric (TE) modules
The product of interaction was investigated by means of x-ray powder diffraction (XPD), collected from a HUBER-Guinier image plate with monochromatic CuKa1-radiation (k = 0.154056 nm)
Summary
Thermoelectric (TE) energy conversion enables a direct transformation of heat into electricity. The highest dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) values for these bulk materials are ZT = 1.4 for p-type DDyFe3CoSb1.2[1] (DD = didymium, a natural mixture of Nd and Pr) and ZT = 1.9 for n-type (Sr,Ba,Yb)yCo4Sb12.[2] Skutterudites can be produced from relatively cheap and abundant starting materials, and commercial scale production for p-DDyFe3CoSb12 (ZT800K = 1.2), p-MMyFe3CoSb12 (ZT800K = 1.0), and n-(MM,Sm)yCo4Sb12 (ZT800K = 1.3) was established by Treibacher Industry AG (TIAG, Austria) With such high ZT values, and proven long term thermal stability[3] a thermoelectric power generation already attracts interest for practical recuperation of waste heat into electricity, and requests the development of interface materials for durable TE modules. We report the test results of the interaction of binary intermetallics with filled skutterudites, and compare results with pure elements
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