Stoichiometric CrSi2 was prepared by arc melting and compacted by uniaxial hot pressing for property measurements. The crystal structure of CrSi2 was investigated using the powder x-ray diffraction method. From the Rietveld refinement, the lattice parameters were found to be a=4.42757 (7) and c=6.36804 (11)Å, respectively. The thermal expansion measurement revealed an anisotropic expansion in the temperature range from room temperature 800K with αa=14.58×10−6∕K, αc=7.51×10−6∕K, and αV=12.05×10−6∕K. The volumetric thermal expansion coefficient shows an anomalous decrease in the temperature range of 450–600K. The measured electrical resistivity ρ and thermoelectric power S have similar trends with a maxima around 550K. Thermal conductivity measurements show a monotonic decrease with increasing temperature from a room temperature value of 10Wm−1K−1. The ZT values increase with temperature and have a maximum value of 0.18 in the temperature range studied. An analysis of the electronic band structure is provided.

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A thermal conductivity apparatus based on the parallel heat-flow technique has been fabricated to measure the thermal conductivity of small specimens. The steady-state method is used to measure samples of 1 ϫ 1 ϫ 10 mm 3 dimension in the temperature range of room temperature-700 K. The details of instrument fabrication, the method of calibration, and typical measurements on test samples are described. The apparatus can also be used to measure the Seebeck coefficient in the same temperature range. As an example we report the thermal properties of CrSi 2 , which is a potential candidate for high-temperature thermoelectric applications.