naa a22 4500 51080294X CHVBK 20180411083403.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20130701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11664-012-2402-1 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11664-012-2402-1 Preparation of Ring-Shaped Thermoelectric Legs from PbTe Powders for Tubular Thermoelectric Modules [Elektronische Daten] [Andreas Schmitz, Christian Stiewe, Eckhard Müller] Waste heat recovery—for example, in automotive applications—is a major field for thermoelectric research and future application. Commercially available thermoelectric modules are based on planar structures, whereas tubular modules may have advantages for integration and performance in the field of automotive waste heat recovery. One major drawback of tubular generator designs is the necessity for ring-shaped legs made from thermoelectric material. Cutting these geometries from sintered tablets leads to considerable loss of thermoelectric material and therefore high cost. Direct sintering of ring-shaped legs or tubes of thermoelectric material is a solution to this problem. However, sintering such rings with high homogeneity and density faces some difficulties related to the mechanical properties of typical thermoelectric materials such as lead telluride (PbTe)—particularly brittleness and high coefficient of thermal expansion. This work shows a process for production of thermoelectric rings made of p- and n-doped PbTe. Long tubes of PbTe have been sintered in a current-assisted sintering process with specially designed sintering molds, coated with a diffusion barrier, and finally cut into ring-shaped slices. To demonstrate the technology, a tubular thermoelectric module has been assembled using these PbTe rings. TMS, 2013 Thermoelectric generator nationallicence TEG nationallicence waste heat recovery nationallicence sintering nationallicence lead telluride nationallicence thermoelectric module nationallicence tubular module nationallicence lead telluride rings nationallicence SPS nationallicence Schmitz Andreas Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut Stiewe Christian Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut Müller Eckhard Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut Journal of Electronic Materials Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 42/7(2013-07-01), 1702-1706 0361-5235 42:7<1702 2013 42 11664 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-012-2402-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-012-2402-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Schmitz Andreas Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Stiewe Christian Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Müller Eckhard Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Electronic Materials Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 42/7(2013-07-01), 1702-1706 0361-5235 42:7<1702 2013 42 11664 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer