Thermal and phase stability of skutterudite master alloys for thermoelectric materials
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Skutterudites, especially those based on cobalt and antimony, represent a promising class of materials for thermoelectric applications. The search for suitable doped analogues and advanced preparation techniques is only one part on the route to development of high efficient thermoelectrics, i.e. materials with high ZT- factor and hence with more efficient conversion of the waste heat to electricity [1]. The other part includes the study of the thermal and phase stability as these materials contain volatile elements (Sb, Sr, Yb, etc.), which can evaporate at operation conditions leading to structure changes, damaging the thermoelectric properties. To gain basic information for the study of doped multicomponent skutterudites, the thermal and phase stability of skutterudite CoSb3 master alloys were investigated using thermal analysis and Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry. Results, including data on phase transformations and those from vapour pressure measurements of antimony, supported by powder X-ray diffraction, measurement of diffusion profiles and microstructure observations are summarized and used for evaluation of the long term thermal stability of the materials. |
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