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Eingeladener Vortrag
- nein (20)
Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by using the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite Ca3Co4O9 is a promising p-type oxide thermoelectric material for applications between 600 °C and 900 °C in air. The properties and morphology of Ca3Co4O9 are strongly anisotropic because of its crystal structure of alternating layers of CoO2 and Ca2CoO3. By aligning the plate-like grains, the anisotropic properties can be assigned to the component. Pressure-assisted sintering (PAS), as known from large-scale production of low temperature co-fired ceramics, was used to sinter multilayers of Ca3Co4O9 green tape at 900 °C with different pressures and dwell times. In-situ shrinkage measurements, microstructural investigations and electric measurements were performed. Pressure-less sintered multilayers have a 2.5 times higher electrical conductivity at room temperature than dry pressed test bars with randomly oriented particles. The combination of tape casting and PAS induces a pronounced alignment of the anisotropic grains. Relative density increases from 57 % after free sintering for 24 h to 94 % after 2 h of PAS with 10 MPa axial load. By applying a uniaxial pressure of 10 MPa during sintering, the electrical conductivity (at 25°C) improves by a factor of 15 compared to test bars with randomly oriented particles. The high temperature thermoelectric properties show the same dependencies. The smaller the applied axial load, the lower the relative densities, and the lower the electrical conductivity. Longer dwell times may increase the density and the electrical conductivity significantly if the microstructure is less densified as in the case of a small axial load like 2 MPa. At higher applied pressures the dwell time has no significant influence on the thermoelectric properties. This study shows that PAS is a proper technique to produce dense Ca3Co4O9 panels with good thermoelectric properties similar to hot-pressed tablets, even in large-scale production.
Thermoelektrische Materialien können durch die Nutzung des Seebeckeffektes einen Temperaturunterschied direkt in eine Spannung umwandeln. Calciumcobaltit (p-typ) und Calciummanagant (n-typ) sind 2 der vielversprechendsten oxidischen thermoelektrischen Materialien. Für die Entwicklung von kostengünstigen Multilayergeneratoren ist das Co-sintern dieser beiden Materialien notwendig und deshalb eine Anpassung der Sintertemperatur nötig. Calciummangant wird herkömmlicherweise zwischen 1200°C und 1350°C gesintert. Calciumcobaltit erfährt einen ungewünschte Phasenumwandlung bei 926°C, es kann allerding bei 900°C unter 7.5MPa zu 95% dicht gesintert werden. Demzufolge, ist eine Co-sintertemperatur von 900°C anzustreben. Aus diesem Grund wurden mehrere Strategien zur Absenkung der Sintertemperatur von Calciummanaganat untersucht. Zum einen die Zugabe niedrigschmelzender Additive, zum anderen die Zugabe von Additiven, die eine eutektische Schmelze bilden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass für Calciummanganat die Verwendung von eutektischen Schmelzen besser geeignet ist als die Verwendung von niedrigschmelzenden Additiven um die Sintertemperatur zu senken.“
Lowering the sintering temperature of calcium manganate CaMnO3 for thermoelectric applications
(2018)
Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by utilizing the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (p-type) and calcium manganate (n-type) are two of the most promising oxide thermoelectric materials. The development of cost-effective multilayer thermoelectric generators requires the co-firing of these materials and therefore the adjustment of sintering temperatures. Calcium manganate is conventionally sintered between 1200 °C and 1350 °C. Calcium cobaltite exhibits an undesired phase transition at 926 °C but can be sintered to high relative density of 95 % at 900 °C under axial pressure of 7.5 MPa. Hence, co-firing at 900 °C would be favourable. Therefore, strategies for lowering the sintering temperature of calcium manganate have been investigated. Basically, two approaches are common: i) addition of low melting additives like Bi2O3-ZnO-B2O3-SiO2 (BBSZ) glass or Bi2O3, and ii) addition of additives that form low-melting eutectics with the base material, for example CuO. In this study, several low melting additives including BBSZ glass and Bi2O3, as well as CuO were tested regarding their effect on calcium manganate densification. Bi2O3 did not improve the densification, whereas BBSZ glass led to 10 % higher relative density at 1200 °C. An addition of 4 wt% CuO decreases the temperature of maximum sinter rate from above 1200 °C to 1040 °C. By reducing the particle size of the raw materials from 2 μm to 0.7 μm the maximum sinter rate could be further shifted 20 K towards lower temperatures and the sinter begin decreased from 920 °C to 740 °C. It is shown that eutectic phase formation is more effective in lowering sintering temperature and accelerating densification than low-melting additives.
Reaction sintering and sintering additives for cost-effective production of thermoelectric oxides
(2020)
Thermoelectric oxides attract much interest recently. Although their thermoelectric properties are inferior to non-oxides, they exhibit distinct advantages. Thermoelectric oxides are stable in air at higher temperatures, their raw materials are less toxic, and more abundant. To enhance attractivity of these materials for industrial applications, production costs need to be reduced.
Conventionally, the legs of thermoelectric generators are sintered from green bodies of previously synthesized powder. Reaction-sintering is a fabrication method without a powder synthesis step, as the final phase is formed during the sintering from a raw material mixture. Moreover, the reduction of chemical potential during reaction-sintering is effective as an additional driving force for sintering. We show that reaction-sintering increases the densification of CaMnO3 (n-type, Sm doped). Consequently, the electrical conductivities improved by about 100 % leading to superior power factors (PF = 230 µW/mK² for CaMnO3).
Another approach to reduce the production costs is to lower the sintering temperature by adding sinter additives. The addition of 4 wt% CuO to CaMnO3 lowers the sinter temperature from 1250 °C to 1050 °C. The achieved power factor PF = 264 µW/mK is more than two times higher as reported in literature for the same dopant.
Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by utilizing the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9, p-type) and calcium manganate (CaMnO3, n-type) are two of the most promising oxide thermoelectric materials. The performance of these materials is evaluated by the power factor PF = S²∙σ and the figure of merit ZT = (PF ∙ T) / κ, demanding high Seebeck coefficient S, high electrical conductivity σ and low thermal conductivity κ. The latter two are increasing with increasing relative sinter density. According to theory, the relative density of ceramics can be improved by increasing the driving force for sintering. This study investigates different approaches to increase the driving force for sintering of Ca3Co4O9 and CaMnO3 to improve densities and thermoelectric properties.
The following approaches were applied: minimizing the energy input during powder synthesis by calcination, fine milling of the powder, using reaction-sintering without a powder synthesis step, and adding a transient liquid phase by sinter additives.
All different approaches led to an increased densification and thus higher electrical conductivity and higher PF. Thermal conductivity increased as well but not to the same extent. E.g. reaction-sintering increased the densification of Ca3Co4O9 (p-type) and CaMnO3 (n-type). Consequently, the electrical conductivities improved by about 100 % for both oxides leading to superior power factors (PF = 230 µW/mK² for CaMnO3). Although the thermal conductivity increased as well by 8 %, the figures of merit (ZT) were significantly higher compared to conventionally sintered bars. The addition of 4 wt% CuO as a sinter additive to CaMnO3 lowers the sinter temperature from above 1250 °C to below 1100 °C and increases the relative density. Due to the increased density, both electrical conductivity and PF increased by more than 200 % even though the sintering temperature was 150 K lower.
Calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9) is considered as one of the most promising thermoelectric p-type oxides for energy harvesting applications at temperatures above 500 °C. It is challenging to sinter this material as its stability is limited to 920 °C. To facilitate a practicable and scalable production of Ca3Co4O9 for multilayer generators, a systematic study of the influence of powder calcination, Bi-doping, reaction sintering, and pressure-assisted sintering (PAS) on microstructure and thermoelectric properties is presented. Batches of doped, undoped, calcined, and not calcined powders were prepared, tape-cast, and sintered with and without uniaxial pressure at 900 °C. The resulting phase compositions, microstructures and thermoelectric properties were analysed. It is shown that the beneficial effect of Bi-doping observed on pressureless sintered samples cannot be transferred to PAS. Liquid phase formation induces distortions and abnormal grain growth. Although the Seebeck coefficient is increased to 139 µV/K by Bi-doping, the power factor is low due to poor electrical conductivity. The best results were achieved by PAS of calcined powder. The dense and textured microstructure exhibits a high power factor of 326 µW/mK² at 800 °C but adversely high thermal conductivity in the relevant direction. The figure of merit is higher than 0.08 at 700 °C.
Calcium cobaltite Ca3Co4O9, abbreviated Co349, is a promising thermoelectric material for high‐temperature applications in air. Its anisotropic properties can be assigned to polycrystalline parts by texturing. Tape casting and pressure‐assisted sintering (PAS) are a possible future way for a cost‐effective mass‐production of thermoelectric generators. This study examines the influence of pressure and dwell time during PAS at 900°C of tape‐cast Co349 on texture and thermoelectric properties. Tape casting aligns lentoid Co349. PAS results in a textured Co349 microstructure with the thermoelectrically favorable ab‐direction perpendicular to the pressing direction. By pressure variation during sintering, the microstructure of Co349 can be tailored either toward a maximum figure of merit as required for energy harvesting or toward a maximum power factor as required for energy harvesting. Moderate pressure of 2.5 MPa results in 25% porosity and a textured microstructure with a figure of merit of 0.13 at 700°C, two times higher than the dry‐pressed, pressureless‐sintered reference. A pressure of 7.5 MPa leads to 94% density and a high power factor of 326 µW/mK2 at 800°C, which is 11 times higher than the dry‐pressed reference (30 MPa) from the same powder.
Thermoelectric generators can be used for energy harvesting by directly transforming a temperature gradient into a voltage. Multilayer generators based on low-temperature co-fired ceramics technology (LTCC) are an interesting alternative to conventional π-type generators. They exhibit several advantages like high filling factor, possibility of texturing, co-firing of all materials in one single-step, and reduction of production costs due to the high possible degree of automation. Pressure-assisted sintering enables the theoretical possibility of co-firing two promising oxide thermoelectric materials: Ca3Co4O9 (p-type) and CaMnO3 (n-type). Due to the large difference in sintering temperature (300 K) the process is very challenging.
In this work we show the material development of Ca3Co4O9, CaMnO3, insulation and metallization for multilayer generators co-fired under pressure at 900 °C. The materials are tailored regarding their sintering behavior, electrical performance and coefficients of thermal expansion. Different generator designs (unileg and pn-type) were fabricated and analyzed regarding crack formation, interaction layers and thermoelectric performance. Simulated stresses during cooling in the multilayers are compared with actual crack formation for different sintering conditions. This study shows that a lower pressure level and a lower level of complexity are beneficial for co-firing and performance.
Texturing of calcium cobaltite for thermoelectric applications by pressure assisted sintering
(2021)
Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by using the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (CCO) is considered as a promising thermoelectric p-type oxide for energy harvesting applications at temperatures above 500 °C. The properties and morphology of single-crystal CCO are strongly anisotropic because of its crystal structure of alternating layers of CoO2 and Ca2CoO3. By aligning the plate-like grains, the anisotropic properties of the grains can be assigned to the poly-crystalline parts.
In this study, the combination of tape casting and pressure-assisted sintering is used to texture and densify large scale components (50 cm²). Thereby, the influence of powder preparation and applied pressure during sintering on texturing and thermoelectric properties is investigated.
The analysis of XRD pole figures revealed that tape casting already leads to highly textured CCO. By pressure variation during sintering, the microstructure of CCO can be tailored either toward maximum power factor as required for energy harvesting or toward maximum figure of merit as required for energy recovery. Low pressure lead to a porous microstructure and maximum figure of merit and higher pressure to full densification and maximum power factor. The electrical and thermal conductivity of CCO seem depending on both texture and sinter density.
Calciumcobaltit und Calciummanganat gehören zu den vielversprechendsten thermoelektrischen Oxiden im Temperaturbereich zwischen 600 °C und 800 °C an Luft. Mittels thermoelektrischer Generatoren kann ein Temperaturgradient direkt in elektrische Leistung umgewandelt werden. Für die kostengünstige Pulverherstellung von Funktionsmaterialien wird im industriellen Maßstab meist die Festphasenreaktion (bzw. Kalzinierung) verwendet. Da es sich dabei um einen Hochtemperaturprozess handelt, ist diese Kalzinierung sehr energieintensiv. In der Literatur werden sehr unterschiedliche Prozessbedingungen zur Pulversynthese thermoelektrischer Oxide genutzt. Soweit dem Autor bekannt, ist keine systematische Untersuchung des Einflusses der Pulversynthesebedingungen auf die thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften publiziert.
Deshalb wurde eine systematische Untersuchung des Einflusses der Pulversynthesebedingungen (Temperatur, Haltezeit, Partikelgröße, Wiederholungen) auf die thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften von Calciumcobaltit und Calciummanganat durchgeführt.
Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich ein höherer Energieeintrag während der Kalzinierung negativ auf die thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften auswirkt.