AgPbSbTe thermoelectric materials fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering (SPS)

High performance AgPbSbTe thermoelectric materials were fabricated by mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effect of preparation technique on the thermoelectric properties was studied. The results showed that the phase composition and thermoelectric properties are related to the mechanical alloying. Appropriate SPS technique could decrease crystal growing, increase phonon scattering and reduce thermal conductivity. A maximum power factor of 18 μW/K2cm and a minimum thermal conductivity of 1.1 W/m K were obtained. A maximum ZT value of 1.2 was obtained at 700 K for the sample fabricated by MA (350 rpm for 4 hrs) and SPS (sintering at 673 K for 5 minute). ©Copyright.