Understanding Anisotropy and Its Relations with Sintering Conditions on Thermoelectric Transport Properties of n-Type Mg3Sb2-Based Materials

In the realm of bulk materials powder processing, the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique stands out as a pivotal method for rapidly attaining higher densification. This study delves into understanding the grain size and texture resulting from unidirectional pressing during SPS in high-performance n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials. Our finding reveals that a larger grain size and a relatively robust (001)-plane texture, developed during SPS pressing, synergistically enhance the electrical conductivity and figure of merit ZT in the direction perpendicular to SPS pressing (perpendicular to P) compared to the parallel direction (parallel to P). Additionally, the texturing effect was evaluated and correlated to transport properties.