Low Temperature Joining and High Temperature Application of Segmented Half Heusler/Skutterudite Thermoelectric Joints.

A low temperature joining process has been developed to fabricate segmented half Heusler/skutterudite thermoelectric joints, and high temperature service behavior of the joints has been studied. The microstructure and electrical resistance across the joint before and after aging were investigated. The joint is well bonded and no cracks appear at the interfaces of the joint before and after aging, which can attribute to the formation of high melting point intermetallic compounds. The electrical resistance crosses the bonding layer smoothly and the contact resistance is low. These results show the process is effective, and promising for preparation of segmented thermoelectric devices.