Development of sandwich joining piece to fabricate segmented half-Heusler/skutterudite thermoelectric joints

Sn/Ni–Sn/Sn sandwich joining piece was developed and applied to fabricate segmented half-Heusler/skutterudite thermoelectric joints, and high-temperature service behavior of the joints was studied. The microstructure and contact resistance of the joint before and after aging were investigated. The joints are well bonded and no cracks appear at the interfaces of the joint before and after aging, which can be attributed to the formation of high-melting point intermetallic compounds. The electrical resistance crosses the joining layer smoothly and the contact resistance is low. These results show that the sandwich joining piece is effective and flexible, and promising for the preparation of segmented thermoelectric devices.