International Round-Robin Testing of Bulk Thermoelectrics

Technical Report · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1049790· OSTI ID:1049790

Wang, Hsin ^[1]; Porter, Wallace D ^[1]; Bottner, Harold ^[2]; Konig, Jan ^[2]; Chen, Lidong ^[3]; Bai, Shengqiang ^[3]; Tritt, Terry M. ^[4]; Mayolett, Alex ^[5]; Smith, Charlene ^[5]; Harris, Fred ^[6]; Sharp, Jeff ^[7]; Lo, Jason ^[8]; Keinke, Holger ^[9]; Kiss, Laszlo I. ^[10]

---

1. ORNL
2. Fraunhofer-Institute, Freiburg, Germany
3. Chinese Academy of Sciences
4. Clemson University
5. Corning, Inc
6. ZT-Plus
7. Marlow Industries, Inc
8. CANMET - Materials Technology Laboratory, Natural Resources of Canada
9. University of Waterloo, Canada
10. University of Quebec at Chicoutimi

Two international round-robin studies were conducted on transport properties measurements of bulk thermoelectric materials. The study discovered current measurement problems. In order to get ZT of a material four separate transport measurements must be taken. The round-robin study showed that among the four properties Seebeck coefficient is the one can be measured consistently. Electrical resistivity has +4-9% scatter. Thermal diffusivity has similar +5-10% scatter. The reliability of the above three properties can be improved by standardizing test procedures and enforcing system calibrations. The worst problem was found in specific heat measurements using DSC. The probability of making measurement error is great due to the fact three separate runs must be taken to determine Cp and the baseline shift is always an issue for commercial DSC. It is suggest the Dulong Petit limit be always used as a guide line for Cp. Procedures have been developed to eliminate operator and system errors. The IEA-AMT annex is developing standard procedures for transport properties testing.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Temperature Materials Lab. (HTML)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1049790
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-2011/393; VT0504000; CEVT004; TRN: US201218%%609
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
PROBABILITY
RELIABILITY
SPECIFIC HEAT
TESTING
THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
THERMOELECTRIC MATERIALS
TRANSPORT
thermoelectric
round-robin