| Mechanical alloying behavior of Bi₂Te₃ alloy, which is the basic composition of thermoelectric materials used for thermoelectric cooling applications, has been investigated with variations of milling time and ball-to-powder weight ratio. Formation of Bi₂Te₃ intermetallic compound was completed by mechanical alloying of elemental Bi and Te powders for 1 hour at ball-to-powder weight ratio of 2 : 1 Processing time for completion of Bi₂Te₃ formation was found to be inversely proportional to the ball-to-powder weight ratio. Formation of Bi₂Te₃ was completed by mechanical alloying for 30 minutes and 10 minutes at ball-to-powder weight ratio of 4:1 and 10:1, respectively. Lattice constants of Bi₂Te₃ processed by mechanical alloying, a=0.4387㎚ and c=3.0481㎚, were not varied with ball-to-powder weight ratio and milling time. Lattice parameters of mechanically alloyed Bi₂Te₃ are in excellent agreement with values of a=0.4385㎚ and c=3.0483㎚, which were reported for Bi₂Te₃ powders processed by melting and grinding. |
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