Korean Journal of Materials Research ISSN:1225-0562(Print) 2287-7258(Online) 한국재료학회지

A mixture of elemental Co₅₀Si₅₀ powders was subjected to mechanical alloying (MA) at room temperature to prepare a CoSi thermoelectric compound. Consolidation of the Co₅₀Si₅₀ mechanically alloyed powders was performed in a spark plasma sintering (SPS) machine using graphite dies up to 800 °C and 1,000 °C under 50 MPa. We have revealed that a nanocrystalline CoSi thermoelectric compound can be produced from a mixture of elemental Co₅₀Si₅₀ powders by mechanical alloying after 20 hours. The average grain size estimated from a Hall plot of the CoSi intermetallic compound prepared after 40 hours of MA was 65 nm. The degree of shrinkage of the consolidated samples during SPS became significant at about 450 °C. All of the compact bodies had a high relative density of more than 94 % with a metallic glare on the surface. X-ray diffraction data showed that the SPS compact produced by sintering mechanically alloyed powders for 40-hours up to 800 °C consisted of only nanocrystalline CoSi with a grain size of 110 nm.