Morphology and electrical contact properties of electrical connection materials in corrosive atmosphere

• Published in: Rare metals Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 174 - 178
• Main Authors: Kong, Zhi-Gang, Xu, Liang-Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Berlin Heidelberg Nonferrous Metals Society of China 01.04.2013; Springer Nature B.V; Research Laboratory of Electrical Contacts, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
• Subjects: Biomaterials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Energy; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Physical Chemistry; 形态; 接触电阻; 气氛; 电子显微镜观察; 电接触性能; 电气; 腐蚀性气体; 连接材料; Temperature; Porosity; Corrosion; Electrical contact
• ISSN: 1001-0521; 1867-7185
• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-013-0032-2

The impact mechanism of environmental fac tors, such as corrosive atmosphere, on connector materials was investigated, and the porosity of gold plating was tested. Series of inspections and analytical research meth ods were introduced in this article. The surface morphology of specimens after corrosion was observed by stereoscopic microscope and scanning electron microscope. Chemical constitution was examined by Xray energy spectrum. The contact resistances were measured by fourpoint method. The experiment results show that after exposure to certain environment, the corrosion products, such as Cu20, Cu（NO3）2.3H20, and NiO, are observed on the surface of the specimens without gold coatings, whereas the corrosion products appear to have circleshaped spots on goldplating surface after corrosion test, which indicate that the gold plating has good corrosion protection. The porosity is increased with the increase of corrosion time for every kind of specimens gold plated, and the corrosion degree of gold plating specimens is decreased with the increase of the thickness of gold coatings. The static contact resistances of circleshaped spots appear higher contact resistance than normal value, which can reach to 2,000 mr2 nearly. It is found that the high and unstable contact resistance of the pore and products is more likely to cause contact failure.