Evaluation of Magnesium Tin Silicide Sintered Bodies Prepared by Liquid-Phase Pressure-Less Sintering

Abstract

Magnesium tin silicide (Mg₂Si_1−ySn_y) is a thermoelectric material with a low environmental load and a high power factor of approximately 400°C. High power factor sintering bodies by pressure-less sintering (PLS) have not been produced as Mg contained in the starting material is likely to be oxidized. A certain amount of tin is used as a sintering additive to improve the sintering density and power factor in liquid-phase sintering and the PLS process (LP-PLS). As a result, LP-PLS bodies with a power factor comparable to that of spark plasma sintering (SPS) bodies were successfully fabricated in this work. No significant changes in thermoelectric characteristics were observed even after heat treatment at 250°C for 32 h in air.

Fig. 6 SEM image and EDX mapping of LP-PLS 5 body.