Influence of Thermo-Mechanical Heat Treatment on the Thermoelectric Properties of Ag Added Bi₁Sb₃Te₆ Compounds

The direct extrusion process using the mechanically alloyed powder as raw materials was applied to prepare the thermoelectric materials. The mechanically alloyed powders of Ag added Bi1Sb3Te6 were extruded using pulse discharge sintering method at temperatures ranging from 345°C to 425°C. The fractographs of extruded specimens shows that no grain size changes was observed until 385°C, but became coarser with the increase of the extrusion temperature above 405°C. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the intensity of (110) plane increased with extrusion temperature up to 385°C and started to drop down above 405°C. The power factor value (PF) also increased with the extrusion temperature up to 385°C and altered above 405°C. These trends agreed with the variation in intensity of (110) plane of XRD patterns. The figure of merit (Z) value of the extruded specimens at 385°C was 3.1 × 10-3 W/K, which was the highest value among the prepared specimens.