Arc erosion behaviors of AgSnO_2 contact materials prepared with different SnO_2 particle sizes

To clarify the effect of SnO2 particle size on the arc erosion behavior of AgSnO2 contact material, Ag?4%SnO2 (mass fraction) contact materials with different sizes of SnO2 particles were fabricated by powder metallurgy. The microstructure of Ag?4%SnO2 contact materials was characterized, and the relative density, hardness and electrical conductivity were measured. The arc erosion of Ag?4%SnO2 contact materials was tested, the arc duration and mass loss before and after arc erosion were determined, the surface morphologies and compositions of Ag?4%SnO2 contact materials after arc erosion were characterized, and the arc erosion mechanism of AgSnO2 contact materials was discussed. The results show that fine SnO2 particle is beneficial for the improvement of the relative density and hardness, but decreases the electrical conductivity. With the decrease of SnO2 particle size, Ag?4%SnO2contact material presents shorter arc duration, less mass loss, larger erosion area and shallower arc erosion pits.

Influence of alloy components on arc erosion morphology of Ag/MeO electrical contact materials

Arc erosion morphologies of Ag/MeO（10） electrical contact materials after 50000 operations under direct current of 19 V and 20 A and resistive load conditions were investigated using scanning electron microscope（SEM） and a 3D optical profiler（3DOP）. The results indicated that 3DOP could supply clearer and more detailed arc erosion morphology information. Arc erosion resistance of Ag/SnO_2（10） electrical contact material was the best and that of Ag/CuO（10） was the worst. Arc erosion morphology of Ag/MeO（10） electrical contact materials mainly included three different types. Arc erosion morphologies of Ag/ZnO（10） and Ag/SnO_2（10） electrical contact materials were mainly liquid splash and evaporation, and those of Ag/CuO（10） and Ag/CdO（10） were mainly material transfer from anode to cathode. Arc erosion morphology of Ag/SnO_2（6）In_2O_3（4） electrical contact materials included both liquid splash, evaporation and material transfer. In addition, the formation process and mechanism on arc erosion morphology of Ag/MeO（10） electrical contact materials were discussed.

A new contact material—Ag/SnO_2-La_2O_3-Bi_2O_3

A super-fine compound powder, Ag/SnO_2+La_2O_3+ Bi_2O_3, has been obtainedusing the chemical coprecipitation method. And a new contact material, Ag/SnO_2+La_2O_3+Bi_2O_3, wasproduced by the powder metallurgy method. Its properties are as follows: the density is 9.75-9.93g/cm^3, the resistivity is 2.31-2.55 μΩ ·cm, the hardness is 880-985 MPa. Its mi-crostructureshows that the fine oxides have a uniform distribution in the silver matrix. The results ofmake-break capacity and temperature rise testing show that the new material has better ability ofanti-arc erosion and lower temperature rise than that of commonly used Ag/CdO.

Preparation and microstructure characterization of a nano-sized Ti^(4+)-doped AgSnO_2 electrical contact material

A Ti^4＋-doped nano-structured AgSnO2 material was prepared using sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The results show that Ti^4＋ cations are successfully doped into the crystal lattice of SnO2, and thus significantly improve the electrical conductivity of the sample. Furthermore, the coating of Ag on Ti^4＋-doped SnO2 nano-sized particles enhances the surface wettability and enables the resulting AgSnO2 material to have better mechanical properties.

Microstructure and properties of Ag–Ti_3SiC_2 contact materials prepared by pressureless sintering

Ti3SiC2-reintbrced Ag-maJxix composites are expected to serve as eleclrical contacts. In this study, the wettability of Ag on a Ti3SiC2 subslxate was measured by the sessile drop melkod. The Ag-Ti3SiC2 composites were prepared from Ag mad Ti3SiC2 powder mix- tures by pressureless sintering. The effects of compacting pressure （100-800 MPa）, sintering temperature （850-950~C）, mad soaking time （0.5-2 h） on the microslxucture mad properties of the Ag-Ti3SiC2 composites were investigated. The experimental results indicated that Ti3SiC2 paxticulates were uniformly distxibuted in flae Ag matrix, wiflaout reactions at the interthces between flae two phases. The prepared Ag-10wt%Ti3SiC2 had a relative density of 95% mad an electrical resistivity of 2.76 x 10 3 m~）＇cm when compacted at 800 MPa mad sintered at 950~C for 1 h. The incorporation of Ti3SiC2 into Ag was found to improve its hardness without substantially compromising its electrical conductivity; INs behavior was attxibuted to the combination of ceramic and metallic properties of the Ti3SiC2 reinforcement, suggesting its potential application in electrical contacts.

Influence of Metal Oxides on the Arc Erosion Behaviour of Silver Metal Oxides Electrical Contact Materials

In the present work investigations have been made to see the role of metal oxides on the performance of the silver metal oxides electrical contact materials. Silver metal oxide materials of three different compositions Ag-10CdO, Ag-7.6SnO2-2.3ln2O3 and Ag-10ZnO were prepared by internal oxidation process under identical processing conditions. These materials were tested for electrical conductivity, hardness, and erosion loss. Performing an accelerated test on the actual contactor assessed the electrical performance, involving erosion loss and temperature rise of the processed materials. The arc-eroded surface was characterized under scanning electron microscope. The study of the eroded surfaces of contacts indicates that the thermal stability of metal oxides depends on nature of silver-metal oxide interface and their mode of erosion. An attempt is made to correlate the surface features of the eroded contacts with the thermal stability of metal oxides.

Effects of silver powder particle size on the microstructure and properties of Ag-Yb_2O_3 electrical contact materials prepared by spark plasma sintering

mg-Yb203 electrical contact materials were fabricated by spark plasma sintefing （SPS）. The effects of silver powder particle size on the microstructure and properties of the samples were investigated. The surface morphologies of the sintered samples were examined by optical microscope （OM）, and the fracture morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The physical and mechanical properties such as density, electrical resistivity, microhardness, and tensile strength were also tested. The results show that the silver powder particle size has evident effects on the sintered materials. Comparing with coarse silver powder （5 ktm）, homogeneous and fme microstmcture was obtained by fine silver powder （_〈0.5-1am）. At the same time, the electrical conductivity, microhardness, and tensile strength of the sin- tered samples with fine silver powder were higher than those of the samples with coarse silver powder. However, silver powder particle size has little influence on the relative densities, which of all samples （both by free and coarse silver powders） is more than 95%. The fracture characteristics are ductile.

Application of nanotechnology in a silver/graphite contact material and optimization of its physical and mechanical properties

By applying nanotechnology, a new type of silver/graphite (AgC) electricalcontact was fabricated and characterized. The AgC coating powders were obtained through high-energyball milling and reducer liquid spraying-coating method. The as-prepared powders were examined bytransmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction(XRD). The results show that the thickness of graphite flakes milled for 10 h is about 50-60 nm andthe AgC coating powders exhibit flocculent structure with quite fine and homogeneous internalmicropores. XRD implies that the average crystalline size of silver in coating powders is about 50nm. The mechanical and physical properties of this newly developed AgC contact made from theabove-mentioned nanocrystalline powders by traditional powder metallurgy technique were measured.Compared with its counterparts made from other techniques, the properties of this new AgC contacthave been optimized. High surface energy and high-energy interfaces of the nanocrystalline AgCcoating powders provide powerful driving force for sintering densification. Moreover, the flocculentstructure of the powders is also an important factor to acquire fine density ratio.

Arc erosion behavior of a nanocomposite W-Cu electrical contact material

The erosion behavior of a nanocomposite W-Cu material under arc breakdown was investigated. The arc erosion rates of the material were determined, and the eroded surfaces and arc erosion mechanisms were studied by scanning eleclion microscopy. It is concluded that the nanocomposite W-Cu electrical contact material shows a characteristic of spreading arcs. The arc breakdown of a commercially used W-Cu alloy was limited in a few areas, and its average arc erosion rate is twice as large as that of the former. Furthermore, it is also proved that the arc extinction ability and arc stability of the nanocomposite W-Cu material are excellent, and melting is the major failure modality in the make-and-break operation of arcs.

Testing results analysis of contact materials’electrical contact performance

Because of the different ways in which contact materials work, the basic requirements for silver metal oxide contact materials are different. They are anti-welded and anti-erosion when closed, anti-erosion when broken, and arc easily moved and have smaller contact resistance. In this paper, La2O3 is used as a stable oxide in contact material to replace CdO. A new type of Ag/SnO2-La2O3-Bi2O3 contact material is first obtained through using powder metallurgical method. Then electrical contact material parameter tester is used to test the electrical contact performance of the contact material. Through experiments, the arcing voltage and current curves, arcing energy curves, fusion power curves while broken and contact resistance while closed were obtained. Analysis of the results showed that the addition of La2O3 makes the contact material have the following advantages: smaller electrical wear, smaller arc energy, smaller contact resistance and arc is more easily extinguished.

A New AgMeO Contact Material

A new silver rare earth oxide contact material, Ag/La2O3(12), was produced by powder metallurgy method. Its performances are as follows: the density is 9.71 similar to 9.96 g.cm(-3); the hardness (HB) is 760 similar to 970 MPa and the resistivity is 2.25 similar to 2.38 mu Omega . cm. The microstructure of Ag/La2O3(12) mas analyzed by SEM and EDS. Rare earth oxide La2O3 shows two shapes, which are uniformly distributed in the form of sphere and abnormality in Ag matrix. La2O3 shows fine spherical shape in the melted area of Ag after laser acting which is used to simulate electric are. The results are contributed to the less splash erosion of Ag. Compared with the main physical and mechanical properties of Ag/SnO2(12) and Ag/CdO(12), the properties of three contact materials are similar, and hence Ag/La2O3(12) may become a potential contact material to be used as the substitute of Ag/CdO(12).

Material transfer behavior of AgTiB_2 contact under different contact forces and electrode gaps

To disclose the effect of contact force and electrode gap on the material transfer behavior of Ag-based contact material, arc-erosion tests of the Ag-4wt.%TiB2 contact material were performed for 5000 operations at 24 V/16 A under resistive load on an electric contact material testing system. The arc energy and arc duration were investigated, the surface morphologies of eroded anode and cathode were characterized, the mass changes after arc-erosion tests were determined, and the material transfer behavior was discussed as well. The results show that contact force has a significant effect on the arc energy, arc duration and erosion morphology, but has no impact on the material transfer mode. However, electrode gap not only influences the arc energy, arc duration and surface morphology, but also changes the material transfer mode. At 1 mm, the material transfers from anode to cathode. Nevertheless, an opposite mode presents at 4 mm, which is from cathode to anode.

Influence of operation number on arc erosion behavior of Ag/Ni electrical contact materials

Arc erosion behavior of Ag/Ni materials with different operation numbers was investigated by OM,3DOP and SEM.The results indicated that the arc erosion of Ag/10Ni electrical contact material fabricated by sintering−extrusion technology was more and more serious with the operation numbers increasing from 1000 to 40000.With the same operation numbers,the arc erosion on anode was more serious than that on cathode.Besides,the pores preferred to emerge around the arc effect spot during the first 10000 operations.And the morphology of the molten silver on cathode and anode was different due to the action of gravity and arc erosion.Furthermore,the relationships among arc energy,arc time,welding force,electric resistivity,temperature and mass change on contacts were discussed,which indicated that the mass loss on cathode was mainly caused by the fracture of molten bridge.

Failure characteristics of Ag-SnO_2 contact material in AC level

The failure characteristics of the contact material Ag-SnO2 were investigated by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy（EDS）.Phase analysis showed that there were Ag,SnO2,and Sn on the contact surfaces at the time of failure under the load condition of 30 A and 220 V（AC）,which means that SnO2 decomposed in service.When the contacts were tested under airproof ambient condition,half-spherical bulges came into being on the contact surfaces,which resulted in early failure and dispersive characteristics.But half-spherical bulges were not found when the contacts were tested under open ambient condition.The temperature change of the contacts during the life testing under airproof ambient condition was different from that under open ambient condition.

Properties of vacuum cast CuCr25 and CuCr25Te contact material

The CuCr25 and CuCr25Te contact materials were manufactured by vacuum casting process.The microstructures of two alloys were observed by metallographic microscope,the electrical conductivity,density and hardness were measured.The tensile test was done by universal testing machine while the fractography was observed by SEM,the breaking current tests were carried out in Weil Synthetic Circuit with arc-igniting branch in Xi’an Jiaotong University.The results show that the microstructures and physical parameters change after adding Te element.The tensile strength decreases and the toughness turns bad,which is propitious to improve the anti-welding property.But the breaking current capacity of CuCr25Te alloy is inferior to CuCr25 alloy.Thus,adding Te element has both advantages and disadvantages on main properties of CuCr contact material.

Research on arc erosion of silver-based alloy contact materials under low voltage,resistive load and small current at 400 Hz and 50 Hz

By using a self-developed IF power and a ASTM contact material experimental system of small-capacity and variable frequency,the value of arcing characteristics and the welding force of the silver-based contact material are acquired under low voltage,resistive load and small current at 400 Hz and 50 Hz. By means of an electricity-ray analytical balance,SEM and EDAX,the weighing values of the contact materials and the changes of AgCdO,AgNi,AgC and AgW contact material surface profile and micro-area constituent are obtained and analyzed. The arc erosion causes of silver-based alloy contact materials at 400 Hz and 50 Hz are also discussed.

Numerical investigation on interface enhancement mechanism of Ag-SnO_(2) contact materials with Cu additive

The electrical contact and mechanical performances of Ag-SnO_(2) contact materials are often improved by additives,especially Cu and its oxides.To reveal the improvement mechanism of metal additive,the effects of Cu nanoparticles on the interface strength and failure behavior of the Ag-SnO_(2) contact materials are investigated by numerical simulations and experiments.Three-dimensional representative volume element(RVE)models for the Ag-SnO_(2) materials without and with Cu nanoparticles are established,and the cohesive zone model is used to simulate the interface debonding process.The results show that the stress−strain relationships and failure modes predicted by the simulation agree well with the experimental ones.The adhesion strengths of the Ag/SnO_(2) and Ag/Cu interfaces are respectively predicted to be 100 and 450 MPa through the inverse method.It is found that the stress concentration around the SnO_(2) phase is the primary reason for the interface debonding,which leads to the failure of Ag-SnO_(2) contact material.The addition of Cu particles not only improves the interface strength,but also effectively suppresses the initiation and propagation of cracks.The results have an reference value for improving the processability of Ag based contact materials.

Study of the Material Transfer Characteristics and Surface Morphology Due to Arc Erosion of PtIr Contact Materials

By means of breaking tests on PtIr contact materials via a JF04C contact material testing machine, it was attempted to elucidate the characteristics of the various surface morphology and material transfer after the arc erosion process caused by break arc. The material transfer characteristics appeared in the experiments were concluded and analyzed. Meanwhile, the morphology of the anode and cathode surface were observed and analyzed by SEM.

CuCr25 W1 Ni2 contact material of vacuum interrupter

CuCr25W1Ni2 alloy was prepared by means of vacuum induction melting (VIM). A series of Cu/Cr alloys with different compositions (mass fraction, 25%～75%) and Cr grain sizes (up to 150 μm) were investigated for their differences in physical properties and breakdown voltage. The influence of alloy elements and microstructure on the performance of CuCr25W1Ni2 alloy was also discussed. Experimental results show that the chromium phase is strengthened and its size is minimized by the addition of tungsten powder. After electrical breakdown, very fine tungsten particles in the melt layer form the external nuclei in the solidification process. The microstructure of surface melt layer of CuCr25W1Ni2 alloy is much flatter. It can notably improve the dielectric strength. On the other hand, the nickel can enhance the mutual solubility of copper and chromium, and the whole alloy is strengthened. [

CONTACT MATERIALS FOR GaSb AND InSb: A PHASE DIAGRAM APPROACH

The development of well defined and thermally stable ohmic contacts for Ⅲ- Ⅴ semi-conductors like InSb and GaSb is still a challenging problem in semiconductor devicetechnology. As device processing usually includes the exposure to elevated tempera-tures, interface reactions often occur during metallization and further heat treatment.It is thus important to understand the respective phase equilibria of the involved el-ements. From the thermodynamic point of view, binary and ternary compounds inequilibrium with the respective compound semiconductor would be the best choice forcontact materials as these contacts will be stable even after long exposure to elevatedtemperatures. These possible candidates for contact materials may be directly obtainedfrom the phase diagrams.During the last years we investigated several phase diagrams of transition metals withGaSb and InSb. Experimental results in the systems Ga-Ni-Sb, Ga-Pd-Sb, Ga-Pt-Sb,In-Ni-Sb and In-Pd-Sb are summarized and are discussed in the context of contactchemistry.