MAMNA Virtual Seminar: Saniya LeBlanc, GWU, Direct heat-to-electricity conversion w/add manufac
Thursday, May 7, 2020
3:00 p.m.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKBGK95gtQ9D9XcxpIb628g/videos?view=57&flow=grid
For More Information:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKBGK95gtQ9D9XcxpIb628g/videos?view=57&flow=grid

Reenvisioning direct heat-to-electricity conversion with additive manufacturing

Saniya LeBlanc
Assistant Professor
George Washington University

Saniya LeBlanc is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at The George Washington University.  Her research goals are to create next-generation energy conversion technologies with advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.  Thermoelectric power generators can convert waste heat into useful electrical energy, but traditional thermoelectric device manufacturing uses bulk material processing with machining, assembly, and integration steps that lead to material waste and performance limitations.  The traditional manufacturing approach offers virtually no flexibility in designing the geometry of thermoelectric modules. Additive manufacturing can overcome these challenges. This presentation will describe our progress in laser-based additive manufacturing of thermoelectric materials such as tellurides and silicides. Laser powder bed fusion (also known as selective laser melting) is an additive manufacturing process which locally melts successive layers of material powder to construct three-dimensional objects. When applied to thermoelectric materials, this technique could enable new geometries and architectures, material-to-device integration, and large-area processing. The presentation will show the first demonstrations of laser additive manufacturing applied to thermoelectric materials and discuss the link between materials, manufacturing, and system-level considerations for thermoelectric power generators.

About the The Mid-Atlantic Micro/Nano Alliance (MAMNA) virtual seminars
These virtual seminars are livestreamed on YouTube Thursdays from 3:00 to 3:30 pm, and feature speakers from the MAMNA community from across the Mid-Atlantic region. Each talk is approximately 20 minutes long with 10 minutes of Q&A. The talks are also archived for future viewing.