Weibull analysis of the biaxial fracture strength of a cast p-type LAST-T thermoelectric material

摘要

This is the first study applying Weibull statistics to the strength distribution of a thermoelectric (TE) material and to determine the fracture strength of a member of the LAST-T ( lead - antimony - silver - tellurium - tin) family of high-temperature TE compounds. The p-type TE material Ag0.9Pb9Sn9Sb0.6Te20 was cast from the melt and specimens cut from the resulting ingot were fractured in a ball-on-ring biaxial fracture test. The Weibull parameters ( characteristic strength and Weibull modulus) were obtained from the fracture data. Implications of the Weibull analysis on the fabrication of TE devices are discussed.