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Buckling Of Thin Film Thermoelectrics

  • Letters in Fracture and Micromechanics
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Abstract

This work investigates buckling behavior of thin film thermoelectrics subjected to a temperature gradient. Both a single-layer thermoelectric film and multilayered structures are studied. The multilayered structure consists of a p-type and n-type thermocouple separated by an insulating layer with or without additional supporting membrane layers. The temperatures, and thermoelectrically induced stresses and membrane forces are first presented. The elastic stability theories of homogeneous plates and laminated composites are subsequently used to determine the temperature differential between the hot and cold junctions that causes buckling of the thin film structures. The numerical results show that a single-layer thermoelectric film could buckle at a temperature differential of around 10 K for large length-to-thickness ratios. The multilayered thermoelectric thin film structures exhibit significantly higher buckling temperature differentials due to reduced overall length-to-thickness ratios.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Z.-H. Jin

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  1. Z.-H. Jin
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Correspondence to Z.-H. Jin.

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Jin, ZH. Buckling Of Thin Film Thermoelectrics. Int J Fract 180, 129–136 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-012-9798-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-012-9798-8

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