Temperature Dependent Tensile Fracture Stress of n- and p-Type Filled-Skutterudite Materials

While materials with excellent thermoelectric performance are most desirable for higher heat to electrical energy conversion efficiency, thermoelectric materials must also be sufficiently mechanically robust to withstand the large number of thermal cycles and vibrational stresses likely to be encountered while in service, particularly in automotive applications. Further these TE materials should be composed of non-toxic and naturally abundant constituent elements and be available as both n- and p-type varieties. Skutterudite based thermoelectric materials seemingly fit this list of criteria. In this contribution we report on the synthesis, tensile fracture strengths, low temperature electrical and thermal transport properties, and coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE), of the n-type skutterudite La0.5(+/-0.01)Ba0.07(+/-0.04)Yb0.08(+/-0.02)Co4.00(+/-0.01)Sb12.02(+/-0.03) and the p-type Ce0.30(+/-0.02)Co2.57(+/-10.02)Fe1.43(+/-0.02)Sb11.98(+/-0.03). Both materials have tensile fracture strengths that are temperature independent up to 500 degrees C, and are in the range of similar to 140 MPa as measured by a three point bend flexure test fixture described herein. The CTE's were measured by dual rod dilatometry and were determined to be 10.3 ppm/degrees C for the n-type material and 11.5 ppm/degrees C for p-type up to 450 degrees C.