Influence of silver nanoparticle addition, porosity, and processing technique on the mechanical properties of Ba0.3Co4Sb12 skutterudites
Source abstract
Abstract
The thermoelectric skutterudite Ba0.3Co4Sb12 is a promising candidate for waste heat recovery applications. Recently, it was demonstrated that the addition of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) to Ba0.3Co4Sb12 increases both the thermoelectric figure of merit and electrical conductivity. This study is the first to examine the effect of AgNP addition on the material’s mechanical properties. This study also found that the Young’s modulus, E, shear modulus, G, and bulk modulus, B, decreased linearly with increasing volume fraction porosity, P. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy was employed to measure the elastic moduli, and Vickers indentation was used to determine the hardness, H, and fracture toughness, K C. Trends in the mechanical properties as a function of grain size, porosity, and the AgNP are discussed in terms of the pertinent literature. While K C was independent of AgNP addition, porosity, and grain size, both E and H decreased linearly with increasing porosity. In addition, this study is the first to identify (i) the Ag3Sb phase formed and (ii) the enhanced densification that occurs when the AgNP is sintered with Ba0.3Co4Sb12 powders, where both effects are consistent with the eutectic and peritectic reactions observed in the binary phase diagram Ag–Sb. These eutectic/peritectic reactions may also be linked to the enhancement of electrical conductivity previously observed when Ag is added to Ba0.3Co4Sb12. Also, similar beneficial eutectic/peritectic reactions may be available for other systems where conductive particles are added to other antimonides or other thermoelectric systems.
Source: openaire · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices · Intermetallics and Advanced Alloy Properties · Rare-earth and actinide compounds
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (95)
Show source-provided references
1. Ioffe AF (1960) Physics of semicondutors. Infosearch Limited, London, p 313
2. Shi X, Yang J, Salvador JR, Chi M, Cho JY, Wang H, Bai S, Yang J, Zhang W, Chen L (2011) Multiple-filled skutterudites: high thermoelectric figure of merit through separately optimizing electrical and thermal transports. J Am Chem Soc 133:7837–784610.1021/ja111199y ↗
3. Segerlind LG (1984) Applied finite element analysis, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
4. Hutton D (2004) Fundamentals of finite element analysis. McGraw-Hill, Boston
5. Zienkiewicz OC, Taylor RL (2005) The finite element method for solid and structural mechanics, 6th edn. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston
6. Wachtman JB, Cannon WR, Matthewson MJ (2009) Mechanical properties of ceramics. Wiley-VCH, Hoboken10.1002/9780470451519 ↗
7. Ren F, Case ED, Timm EJ, Schock HJ (2008) Hardness as a function of composition for n-type LAST thermoelectric material. J Alloy Compd 455:340–34510.1016/j.jallcom.2007.01.086 ↗
8. Zhou X, Wang G, Zhang L, Chi H, Su X, Sakamoto J, Uher C (2012) Enhanced thermoelectric properties of Ba-filled skutterudites by grain size reduction and Ag nanoparticle inclusion. J Mater Chem 22:2958–296410.1039/C2JM15010G ↗
9. Androulakis J, Lin C-H, Kong H-J, Uher C, Wu C-I, Hogan T, Cook BA, Caillat T, Paraskevopoulos KM, Kanatzidis MG (2007) Spinodal decomposition and nucleation and growth as a means to bulk nanostructured thermoelectrics: enhanced performance in Pb(1 − x)Sn(x)Te-PbS. J Am Chem Soc 129:9780–978810.1021/ja071875h ↗
10. Zhao LD, He J, Hao S, Wu C-I, Hogan TP, Wolverton C, Dravid VP, Kanatzidis MG (2012) Raising the thermoelectric performance of p-type PbS with endotaxial nanostructuring and valence-band offset engineering using CdS and ZnS. J Am Chem Soc 134:16327–1633610.1021/ja306527n ↗
11. Zhou M, Li J-F, Kita T (2008) Nanostructured AgPb(m)SbTe(m + 2) system bulk materials with enhanced thermoelectric performance. J Am Chem Soc 130:4527–453210.1021/ja7110652 ↗
12. Alleno E, Chen L, Chubilleau C, Lenoir B, Rouleau O, Trichet MF, Villeroy B (2009) Thermal conductivity reduction in CoSb3–CeO2 nanocomposites. J Electron Mater 39:1966–197010.1007/s11664-009-1043-5 ↗
13. Ji X, He J, Alboni P, Su Z, Gothard N, Zhang B, Tritt TM, Kolis JW (2007) Thermal conductivity of CoSb3 nano-composites grown via a novel solvothermal nano-plating technique. Phys Status Solidi RRL 1:229–23110.1002/pssr.200701126 ↗
14. Toprak MS, Stiewe C, Platzek D, Williams S, Bertini L, Muller E, Gatti C, Zhang Y, Rowe M, Muhammed M (2004) The impact of nanostructuring on the thermal conductivity of thermoelectric CoSb3. Adv Funct Mater 14:1189–119610.1002/adfm.200400109 ↗
15. Mi JL, Zhao XB, Zhu TJ, Tu JP (2008) Thermoelectric properties of Yb 0.15 Co 4 Sb 12 based nanocomposites with CoSb 3 nano-inclusion. J Phys D 41:20540310.1088/0022-3727/41/20/205403 ↗
16. Yoon S, Kwon O-J, Ahn S, Kim J-Y, Koo H, Bae S-H, Cho J-Y, Kim J-S, Park C (2013) The effect of grain size and density on the thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3–PbTe compounds. J Electron Mater 42:3390–339610.1007/s11664-013-2753-2 ↗
17. Tokiai T, Uesugi T, Nosaka M, Hirayama A, Ito K, Koumoto K (1997) Thermoelectric properties of Mn-doped iron disilicide ceramics fabricated from radio-frequency plasma-treated fine powders. J Mater Sci 32:3007–3011. doi: 10.1023/A:101860950863710.1023/A:1018609508637 ↗
18. Case ED (2012) Thermal fatigue and waste heat recovery via thermoelectrics. J Electron Mater 41:1811–181910.1007/s11664-012-2083-9 ↗
19. Case ED (2012) Chapter 16, Thermo-mechanical properties of thermoelectric materials. In: Rowe DM (ed) Thermoelectrics and its energy harvesting: modules, systems and applications. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, pp 16-1 to 16-29
20. Lee H, Vashaee D, Wang DZ, Dresselhaus MS, Ren ZF, Chen G (2010) Effects of nanoscale porosity on thermoelectric properties of SiGe. J Appl Phys 107:09430810.1063/1.3388076 ↗
21. Yang L, Wu JS, Zhang LT (2004) Synthesis of filled skutterudite compound La0.75Fe3CoSb12 by spark plasma sintering and effect of porosity on thermoelectric properties. J Alloy Compd 364:83–8810.1016/S0925-8388(03)00538-3 ↗
22. He Q, Hu S, Tang X, Lan Y, Yang J, Wang X, Ren Z, Hao Q, Chen G (2008) The great improvement effect of pores on ZT in Co1−xNixSb3 system. Appl Phys Lett 93:04210810.1063/1.2963476 ↗
23. Wen P, Duan B, Zhai P, Li P, Zhang Q (2013) Effect of thermal annealing on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties of nano-TiN–Co4Sb11.5Te0.5 composites. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 24:5155–5161
24. Pilchak AL, Ren F, Case ED, Timm EJ, Schock HJ, Wu C-I, Hogan TP (2007) Characterization of dry milled powders of LAST (lead–antimony–silver–tellurium) thermoelectric material. Philos Mag 87:4567–459110.1080/14786430701566044 ↗
25. Ren F, Case ED, Ni JE, Timm EJ, Lara-Curzio E, Trejo RM, Lin C-H, Kanatzidis MG (2009) Temperature-dependent elastic moduli of lead telluride-based thermoelectric materials. Philos Mag 89:143–16710.1080/14786430802607119 ↗
26. Ni JE, Case ED, Khabir KN, Stewart RC, Wu C-I, Hogan TP, Timm EJ, Girard SN, Kanatzidis MG (2010) Room temperature Young’s modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio and hardness of PbTe–PbS thermoelectric materials. Mater Sci Eng B 170:58–6610.1016/j.mseb.2010.02.026 ↗
27. Schmidt RD, Ni JE, Case ED, Sakamoto JS, Kleinow DC, Wing BL, Stewart RC, Timm EJ (2010) Room temperature Young’s modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson’s ratio of Ce0.9Fe3.5Co0.5Sb12 and Co0.95Pd0.05Te0.05Sb3 skutterudite materials. J Alloy Compd 504:303–30910.1016/j.jallcom.2010.06.003 ↗
28. Migliori A, Sarrao JL (1997) Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy: applications to physics, materials measurements, and nondestructive evaluation. Wiley-VCH, New York
29. Schmidt RD, Case ED, Lehr GJ, Morelli DT (2013) Room temperature mechanical properties of polycrystalline YbAl3, a promising low temperature thermoelectric material. Intermetallics 35:15–2410.1016/j.intermet.2012.11.019 ↗
30. Lawn BR, Cook RF (2012) Probing material properties with sharp indenters: a retrospective. J Mater Sci 47:1–22. doi: 10.1007/s10853-011-5865-110.1007/s10853-011-5865-1 ↗
31. Underwood EE (1969) Stereology, or the quantitative evaluation of microstructures. J Microsc 89:161–18010.1111/j.1365-2818.1969.tb00663.x ↗
32. Case ED, Smyth JR, Monthei V (1981) Grain-size determinations. J Am Ceram Soc 64:C24–C25
33. Barsoum MW (2003) Fundamentals of ceramics. Taylor & Francis Group, New York10.1887/0750309024 ↗
34. Voronin MV, Osadchii EG (2013) Standard thermodynamic properties of Ag3Sb and Ag6Sb evaluated by EMF measurements. Inorg Mater 49:550–55410.1134/S0020168513060186 ↗
35. Cipriani C, Corazza M, Mazzetti G (1996) Reinvestigation of natural silver antimonides. Eur J Mineral 8:1347–135010.1127/ejm/8/6/1347 ↗
36. Feschotte P, Monachon F, Durussel P (1992) The binary system Sb–Ag: a revision of the Ag3Sb phase boundaries. J Alloy Compd 186:L17–L1810.1016/0925-8388(92)90002-Q ↗
37. Okamoto H (2007) Ag–Sb (silver–antimony). J Phase Equilibria 28:40310.1007/s11669-007-9113-y ↗
38. Hassam S, Bahari Z, Legendre B (2001) Phase diagrams of the Ag–Bi–Sb ternary system. J Alloy Compd 315:211–21710.1016/S0925-8388(00)01267-6 ↗
39. Okamoto H (1993) Ag–Sb (silver–antimony). J Phase Equilibria 14:531–53210.1007/BF02671976 ↗
40. Zhang L, Sakamoto J (2013) The microstructural stability and thermoelectric properties of Mm0.9Fe3.5Co0.5Sb12-based skutterudites. Mater Chem Phys 138:601–60710.1016/j.matchemphys.2012.12.026 ↗
41. Bukat K, Koscielski M, Sitek J, Jakubowska M, Miozniak A (2011) Silver nanoparticles effect on the wettability of Sn–Ag–Cu solder pastes and solder joints microstructure on copper. Solder Surf Mt Technol 23:150–16010.1108/09540911111146908 ↗
42. Dharma IGBB, Shukor MHA, Ariga T (2009) Wettability of low silver content lead-free solder alloy. Mater Trans 50:1135–113810.2320/matertrans.M2009024 ↗
43. Yoshizawa M, Nakanishi Y, Kumagai T, Oikawa M, Sekine C, Shirotani I (2004) Elastic anomalies of polycrystalline SmRu4P12 associated with metal-insulator transition. J Phys Soc Jpn 73:315–31810.1143/JPSJ.73.315 ↗
44. Slack GA, Tsoukala VG (1994) Some properties of semiconducting IrSb3. J Appl Phys 76:1665–167110.1063/1.357750 ↗
45. Morelli DT, Meisner GP (1995) Low temperature properties of the filled skutterudite CeFe4Sb12. J Appl Phys 77:3777–378110.1063/1.358552 ↗
46. Nolas GS, Morelli DT, Tritt TM (1999) Skutterudites: a phonon-glass-electron crystal approach to advanced thermoelectric energy conversion applications. Annu Rev Mater Sci 29:89–11610.1146/annurev.matsci.29.1.89 ↗
47. Nolas GS, Kaeser M, Littleton RT, Tritt TM (2000) High figure of merit in partially filled ytterbium skutterudite materials. Appl Phys Lett 77:1855–185710.1063/1.1311597 ↗
48. Uher C (2001) Skutterudites: prospective novel thermoelectrics. In: Tritt TM (ed) Semiconductors and semimetals, vol 69. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 139–253
49. Zhang L, Rogl G, Grytsiv A, Puchegger S, Koppensteiner J, Spieckermann F, Kabelka H, Reinecker M, Rogl P, Schranz W, Zehetbauer M, Carpenter MA (2010) Mechanical properties of filled antimonide skutterudites. Mater Sci Eng B 170:26–3110.1016/j.mseb.2010.02.022 ↗
50. Xiong DB, Okamoto NL, Inui H (2013) Enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit in p-type Ag-doped ZnSb nanostructured with Ag3Sb. Scr Mater 69:397–40010.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.05.029 ↗
51. Hashin Z (1962) The elastic moduli of heterogeneous materials. J Appl Mech 29:143–15010.1115/1.3636446 ↗
52. Halpin JC (1992) Primer on composite materials analysis. Technomic Publishing Company Inc., Lancaster
53. Bedolla E, Lemus-Ruiz J, Contreras A (2012) Synthesis and characterization of Mg–AZ91/AlN composites. Mater Des 38:91–9810.1016/j.matdes.2012.02.001 ↗
54. Couturier R, Ducret D, Merle P, Disson JP, Joubert P (1997) Elaboration and characterization of a metal matrix composite: Al/AlN. J Eur Ceram Soc 17:1861–186610.1016/S0955-2219(97)87873-9 ↗
55. Ni JE, Ren F, Case ED, Timm EJ (2009) Porosity dependence of elastic moduli in LAST (lead–antimony–silver–tellurium) thermoelectric materials. Mater Chem Phys 118:459–46610.1016/j.matchemphys.2009.08.018 ↗
56. Rice RW (1998) Porosity of ceramics. Marcel Dekker, New York
57. Ramakrishan N, Arunachalam VS (1993) Effective elastic moduli of porous ceramic materials. J Am Ceram Soc 76:2745–275210.1111/j.1151-2916.1993.tb04011.x ↗
58. Boccaccini AR (1994) Comment on “Effective Elastic Moduli of Porous Ceramic Materials”. J Am Ceram Soc 77:2779–278110.1111/j.1151-2916.1994.tb04679.x ↗
59. Rice RW (1995) Comment on ‘Effective Elastic Moduli of Porous Ceramic Materials”. J Am Ceram Soc 78:171110.1111/j.1151-2916.1995.tb08878.x ↗
60. Dunn ML, Ledbetter H (1995) Poisson’s ratio of porous and microcracked solids: theory and application to oxide superconductors. J Mater Res 10:2715–272210.1557/JMR.1995.2715 ↗
61. Kim HS, Bush MB (1999) The effects of grain size and porosity on the elastic modulus of nanocrystalline materials. Nanostructured Mater 11:361–36710.1016/S0965-9773(99)00052-5 ↗
62. Zawrah MF, Abdel-kader H, Elbaly NE (2012) Fabrication of Al2O3–20vol% Al nanocomposite powders using high energy milling and their sinterability. Mater Res Bull 47:655–66110.1016/j.materresbull.2011.12.023 ↗
63. Chang Q, Chen DL, Ru HQ, Yue XY, Yu L, Zhang CP (2010) Toughening mechanisms in iron-containing hydroxyapatite/titanium composites. Biomaterials 31:1493–150110.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.11.046 ↗
64. Fujieda T, Uno M, Ishigami H, Kurachi M, Wakamatsu N, Doi Y (2012) Addition of platinum and silver nanoparticles to toughen dental porcelain. Dent Mater J 31:711–71610.4012/dmj.2012-044 ↗
65. Fan X, Case ED, Yang Q, Nicholas JD (2013) Room temperature hardness of gadolinia-doped ceria as a function of porosity. J Mater Sci 48:6977–6985. doi: 10.1007/s10853-013-7506-310.1007/s10853-013-7506-3 ↗
66. Ramadass N, Mohan S, Reddy SR (1983) Studies on the metastable phase retention and hardness in zirconia ceramics. Mater Sci Eng 60:65–7210.1016/0025-5416(83)90078-2 ↗
67. Mangalaraja RV, Ananthakumar S, Uma K, Jiménez RM, López M, Camurri CP (2009) Microhardness and fracture toughness of Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 for manufacturing solid oxide electrolytes. Mater Sci Eng A 517:91–9610.1016/j.msea.2009.03.046 ↗
68. Shao Y, Du R, Wu X, Song F, Xu X, Jiang C (2013) Effect of porosity on the crack pattern and residual strength of ceramics after quenching. J Mater Sci 48:6431–6436. doi: 10.1007/s10853-013-7444-010.1007/s10853-013-7444-0 ↗
69. Ravi V, Firdosy S, Caillat T, Lerch B, Calamino A, Pawlik R, Nathal M, Sechrist A, Buchhalter J, Nutt S (2008) Mechanical properties of thermoelectric skutterudites. Proc Am Inst Phys Conf, Space Technol Appl Int Forum, Albuquerque, NM, pp 10–1410.1063/1.2845027 ↗
70. Eilertsen J, Subramanian MA, Kruzic JJ (2013) Fracture toughness of Co4Sb12 and In0.1Co4Sb12 thermoelectric skutterudites evaluated by three methods. J Alloy Compd 552:492–49810.1016/j.jallcom.2012.11.066 ↗
71. Rogl G, Rogl P (2011) Mechanical properties of skutterudites. Sci Adv Mater 3:517–53810.1166/sam.2011.1181 ↗
72. Pharr GM, Herbert EG, Gao Y (2010) The indentation size effect: a critical examination of experimental observations and mechanistic interpretations. Annu Rev Mater Res 40:271–29210.1146/annurev-matsci-070909-104456 ↗
73. Nix WD, Gao H (1998) Indentation size effects in crystalline materials: a law for strain gradient plasticity. J Mech Phys Solids 46:411–42510.1016/S0022-5096(97)00086-0 ↗
74. Bull SJ, Page TF, Yoffe EH (1989) An explanation of the indentation size effect in ceramics. Philos Mag Lett 59:281–28810.1080/09500838908206356 ↗
75. Sangwal K (2009) Review: indentation size effect, indentation cracks and microhardness measurement of brittle crystalline solids—some basic concepts and trends. Cryst Res Technol 44:1019–103710.1002/crat.200900385 ↗
76. Sangwal K (2000) On the reverse indentation size effect and microhardness measurement of solids. Mater Chem Phys 63:145–15210.1016/S0254-0584(99)00216-3 ↗
77. Rice RW (2000) Mechanical properties of ceramics and composites. Marcel Dekker, New York10.1201/9780203908471 ↗
78. Lawn BR (1993) Fracture of brittle solids, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York10.1017/CBO9780511623127 ↗
79. Armstrong RW (2011) The hardness and strength properties of WC–Co composites. Matereials 4:1287–130810.3390/ma4071287 ↗
80. Monroe LD, Smyth JR (1978) Grain size dependence of the fracture energy of Y2O3. J Am Ceram Soc 61:538–53910.1111/j.1151-2916.1978.tb16145.x ↗
81. Rhoades WH, Baldoni JG, Wei GC (1986) Final report for ORN contract N00014-82-C-0452. GTE Laboratory
82. Yasuda K, Kim SD, Kanemichi Y (1990) Influence of grain size and temperature on fracture toughness of MgO sintered body. J Ceram Soc Jpn 98:1103–110810.2109/jcersj.98.1103 ↗
83. Veldkamp JDB, Hattu N (1979) On the fracture toughness of brittle materials. Philips J Res 34:1–25
84. Rice RW (1996) Grain size and porosity dependence of ceramic fracture energy and toughness at 22°C. J Mater Sci 31:1969–1983. doi: 10.1007/BF0035661610.1007/BF00356616 ↗
85. Yao W, Liu J, Holland TB, Huang L, Xiong Y, Schoenung JM, Mukherjee AK (2011) Grain size dependence of fracture toughness for fine grained alumina. Scr Mater 65:143–14610.1016/j.scriptamat.2011.03.032 ↗
86. Vekinis G, Ashby MF, Beaumont PWR (1990) R-curve behavior of Al2O3 ceramics. Acta Metall Mater 38:1151–116210.1016/0956-7151(90)90188-M ↗
87. Swanson PL, Fairbanks CJ, Lawn BR, Mai YW, Hockey BJ (1987) Crack-interface grain bridging as a fracture-resistance mechanism in ceramics. J Am Ceram Soc 70:279–28910.1111/j.1151-2916.1987.tb04982.x ↗
88. Foulk JW III, Cannon RM, Johnson GC, Klein PA, Ritchie RO (2007) A micromechanical basis for partitioning the evolution of grain bridging in brittle materials. J Mech Phys Solids 55:719–74310.1016/j.jmps.2006.10.009 ↗
89. Bennison SJ, Lawn BR (1989) Role of interfacial grain-bridging sliding friction in the crack resistance and strength of nontransforming ceramics. Acta Metall 37:2659–267110.1016/0001-6160(89)90299-X ↗
90. Schmidt RD, Case ED, Ni JE, Trejo RM, Lara-Curzio E, Korkosz RJ, Kanatzidis MG (2013) High-temperature elastic moduli of thermoelectric SnTe1±x–ySiC nanoparticulate composites. J Mater Sci 48:8244–8258. doi: 10.1007/s10853-013-7637-610.1007/s10853-013-7637-6 ↗
91. Hasselman DPH, Fulrath RM (1965) Effect of spherical tungsten dispersions on young’s modulus of a glass. J Am Ceram Soc 48:548–54910.1111/j.1151-2916.1965.tb14668.x ↗
92. Lowrie R, Gonas AM (1967) Single crystal elastic properties of tungsten from 24° to 1800°C. J Appl Phys 38:4505–450910.1063/1.1709158 ↗
93. Macfarlane RE, Rayne JA (1965) Anomalous temperature dependence of shear modulus c44 for platinum. Phys Lett 18:91–9210.1016/0031-9163(65)90659-1 ↗
94. Neighbours J, Alers G (1958) Elastic constants of silver and gold. Phys Rev 885:707–71210.1103/PhysRev.111.707 ↗
95. Chang YA, Himmel L (1966) Temperature dependence of the elastic constants of Cu, Ag, and Au above room temperature. J Appl Phys 37:3567–357210.1063/1.1708903 ↗