Development of a Thermoelectric Module Using the Heusler Alloy FeVAl用合金开发热电模块.pdfVIP

Journal of ELECTRONIC MATERIALS, Vol. 38, No. 7, 2009 Special Issue Paper DOI: 10.1007/s11664-009-0724-4 2009 TMS Development of a Thermoelectric Module Using the Heusler Alloy Fe2VAl M. MIKAMI,1,3 K. KOBAYASHI,1 T. KAWADA,2 K. KUBO,2 and N. UCHIYAMA2 1.—National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Nagoya 463-8560, Japan. 2.—Atsumitec Co., Ltd., Hamamatsu 431-0192, Japan. 3.—e-mail: m-mikami@aist.go.jp A thermoelectric module was constructed using a Heusler Fe VAl sintered 2 alloy prepared by pulse-current sintering (PCS) using mechanically alloyed powder. A large-amplitude vibration mill was developed for powder prepara- tion. The processing rate was increased 50-fold over that of laboratory plan- etary ball milling. In all, 25 pieces of millimeter-sized sintered alloy, which is useful for thermoelectric devices without cutting, were fabricated simulta- neously using a single PCS process. The thermoelectric module consisting of the high-strength sintered alloy and electrode joint showed high durability. This module stably generated electric power on the exhaust pipe of a running motorcycle. Key words: Thermoelectric module, Heusler alloy, mechanical alloying, pulse-current sintering, electrode joint INTRODUCTION at 300 K.3,4 These values are comparable to those of