[en] The aim of this work is to improve the mechanical stability of lead telluride (PbTe), trying to vary its mechanical properties independently from its thermoelectric properties. Thus the influence of material preparation as well as different dopants on the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of lead telluride is being analysed. When using appropriately set process parameters, milling and sintering of lead telluride increases the material's hardness. With sintering temperatures exceeding 300 C stable material of high relative density can be achieved. Milling lead telluride generates lattice defects leading to a reduction of the material's charge carrier density. These defects can be reduced by increased sintering temperatures. Contamination of the powder due to the milling process leads to bloating during thermal cycling and thus reduced density of the sintered material. In addition to that, evaporation of tellurium at elevated temperatures causes instability of the material's thermoelectric properties. Based on the experimental results obtained in this work, the best thermoelectric and mechanical properties can be obtained by sintering coarse powders at around 400 C. Within this work a concept was developed to vary the mechanical properties of lead telluride via synthesis of PbTe with electrically nondoping elements, which thus may keep the thermoelectric properties unchanged. Therefore, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of Pb_1-xCa_xTe were investigated. Doping pure PbTe with calcium causes a significant increase of the material's hardness while only slightly decreasing the charge carrier density and thus keeping the thermoelectric properties apart from a slight reduction of the electrical conductivity nearly unchanged. The abovementioned concept is proven using sodium doped lead telluride, as it is used for thermoelectric generators: The additional doping with calcium again increases the material's hardness while its thermoelectric properties remain at a very high level, reaching a maximum figure of merit ZT around 1.2. In addition to the thermoelectric properties the mechanical properties of lanthanum doped lead telluride were studied for the first time within this work. Lanthanum significantly increases the hardness of PbTe. SEM analysis of sintered samples reveals vast amounts of lanthanum rich precipitates within the matrix. This is partly attributed to the chosen route for material synthesis. Furthermore, the doped material's thermoelectric properties are highly unstable. The reason for this still has to be investigated. Based on the process and material developments described in this work a prototype of a tubular thermoelectric generator was constructed. In the course of this construction a process for sintering rings and tubes of lead telluride was developed and successfully implemented.