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The thermal expansion coefficient as a key design parameter for thermoelectric materials and its relationship to processing-dependent bloating

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Abstract

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is a key design parameter for thermoelectric (TE) materials, especially in energy harvesting applications since stresses generated by CTE mismatch, thermal gradients, and thermal transients scale with the CTE of the TE material. For the PbTe–PbS-based TE material (Pb0.95Sn0.05Te)0.92(PbS)0.08—0.055 % PbI2 over the temperature ranges of 293–543 and 293–773 K, a CTE, αavg, of 21.4 ± 0.3 × 10−6 K−1 was measured using (1) dilatometry and (2) high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) for powder and bulk specimens. The CTE values measured via dilatometry and HT-XRD are similar to the literature values for other Pb-based chalcogenides. However, the processing technique was found to impact the thermal expansion such that bloating (which leads to a hysteresis in thermal expansion) occurred for hot pressed billets heated to temperatures >603 K while specimens fabricated by pulsed electric current sintering and as-cast specimens did not show a bloating-modified thermal expansion even for temperatures up to 663 K. The relationship of bloating to the processing techniques is discussed, along with a possible mechanism for inhibiting bloating in powder processed specimens.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-08-1-0613. Equipment purchases were funded by the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) Grant Number N00014-07-1-0735 (Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy apparatus and the laser scattering apparatus) and N00014-09-1-0785 (PECS apparatus) Office of Naval Research. Research through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Temperature Materials Laboratory User Program was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Program. The authors also acknowledge the Department of Energy, “Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion Center,” an Energy Frontiers Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic energy Sciences under award number DE-SC0001054 for financial support of Robert Schmidt for the powder processing done in this study as well as support of Jennifer Ni, Edgar Lara-Curzio, and Eldon Case for the data analysis and paper preparation stage of this research. The authors also acknowledge Ed Timm, Mechanical Engineering Department, Michigan State University and Karl Dersch, Computer and Electrical Engineering Department, for their assistance with hot pressing and cutting selected hot pressed specimens and PECS apparatus. All microscopy was performed at the Center for Advanced Microscopy at Michigan State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Jennifer E. Ni, Eldon D. Case & Robert D. Schmidt

  2. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Chun-I Wu & Timothy P. Hogan

  3. High Temperature Materials Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37380, USA

    Rosa M. Trejo, Melanie J. Kirkham & Edgar Lara-Curzio

  4. Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

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  1. Jennifer E. Ni
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  2. Eldon D. Case
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  3. Robert D. Schmidt
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  4. Chun-I Wu
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Correspondence to Eldon D. Case.

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Ni, J.E., Case, E.D., Schmidt, R.D. et al. The thermal expansion coefficient as a key design parameter for thermoelectric materials and its relationship to processing-dependent bloating. J Mater Sci 48, 6233–6244 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7421-7

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