Process–Structure–Property Relationship of Laser Additive Manufactured Thermoelectric Silver Selenide

Additive manufacturing for thermoelectric material fabrication can minimize the waste of valuable thermoelectric powder material, eliminate the need for postprocessing, and enable tunable, customized geometries. As an additive method, laser powder bed fusion has been demonstrated for fabrication of thermoelectric material shapes. A comprehensive understanding of the process–structure–property relationship of laser additive‐manufactured thermoelectric materials enables control of the resultant thermoelectric performance. This research establishes the process–structure–property relationship for n‐type silver selenide, a thermoelectric material for room‐temperature applications. A correlation of the process parameters (laser power, scan speed, and scan pattern) with the resultant microstructure (elemental composition, porosity, relative density, and grain morphology) and bulk properties (thermoelectric and hardness) is provided. The samples fabricated using a laser power and scan speed of 25 W and 25 mm/s had a relative density of 89% and a maximum thermoelectric figure of merit ( ZT ) of 0.19 at 310 K.