Annealing Effects on Powder Metallurgy Based Pb1-xSnxTe Materials for Thermoelectric Applications

Lead tin telluride based alloys are known p-type materials for thermoelectric applications, in the 50-600oC temperature range. These alloys combine desired features of mechanical and thermoelectric properties. The electronic transport properties of PbTe and Pb1-xSnxTe materials may be strongly dependent on the preparation technique. Powder metallurgy process is known to introduce defects and strains, that may alter carrier concentration. Under such non-equilibrium conditions the thermoelectric properties are instable at the operating temperature. An appropriate annealing treatment can eliminate this effect.. The present communication describes the annealing treatment applied to cold compacted and sintered Pb1-xSnxTe materials.