Enhancement of the absolute thermoelectric power of carbon fiber polymer-matrix composite in the through-thickness direction

The absolute thermoelectric power of a continuous carbon fiber polymer-matrix structural composite in the through-thickness direction was increased from 0.5 to 22 μ V/°C by adding tellurium particles (7.3 vol%) as an interlaminar filler. The effect was small when bismuth was used instead of tellurium. The effect of tellurium was much less in the longitudinal direction than in the through-thickness direction.