Abstract We applied a novel method of tape casting followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) to prepare CuAlO2 compacts. During the tape casting process, plate-like Al2O3 particles distributed along the flow direction of slurry under the action of the shear-thinning effect. It greatly elevated the orientation degree of the CuAlO2 compacts formed during the following SPS. Meanwhile, the relative density of these compacts was also considerably increased due to the reduction in porosity. The green compacts and as-sintered compacts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The thermoelectric properties including electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, power factor, and the dimensionless figure of merit were measured. The results show that sample CuO-45-TC exhibited the highest thermoelectric performance with a ZT value of 0.042 at 973 K. The value should be the highest performance reported in the literature as far as we know. The remarkable increase in orientation degree and relative density should be responsible for the improvement in the thermoelectric performance of CuAlO2.

中文翻译：

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流延法和 SPS 制备 CuAlO2 压块及其热电性能

摘要 我们应用流延成型和放电等离子烧结 (SPS) 的新方法来制备 CuAlO2 压块。在流延过程中，板状Al2O3颗粒在剪切稀化作用下沿浆料流动方向分布。它大大提高了后续 SPS 过程中形成的 CuAlO2 压块的取向度。同时，由于孔隙率的降低，这些压块的相对密度也显着增加。通过 X 射线衍射 (XRD) 和扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 对生坯和烧结坯进行表征。测量了包括电阻率、塞贝克系数、热导率、功率因数和无量纲品质因数在内的热电特性。结果表明，样品 CuO-45-TC 表现出最高的热电性能，在 973 K 时的 ZT 值为 0.042。据我们所知，该值应该是文献中报道的最高性能。取向度和相对密度的显着增加应该是 CuAlO2 热电性能改善的原因。