Corrosive gas environmental testing for electrical contacts

Author

Gore, Randy R. ; Witska, Rich ; Kirby, J. Ray ; Chao, James L.

Author_Institution

IBM Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Volume

13

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

3/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

27

Lastpage

32

Abstract

Corrosive gas environmental tests are used to predict reliability of electrical connectors used in data system products under conditions found in business office environments. IBM´s corrosive gaseous environmental acceleration test, called G1(T), were evaluated for variations in testing conditions, in particular for those which differ from outside testing standards used in the connector industry. The purpose was to determine those features of various acceleration tests which could be recommended for adoption into an industrywide testing standard. Copper, nickel, and porous gold coupons (electroplated gold over nickel over copper) were used to determine the effects of each corrosive gas test environment. The corrosion of copper was quantified by coulometric reduction, whereas that of nickel was evaluated by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis. The porous gold coupons were visually examined for the presence of pore and creep corrosion, which allow the degree of environmental exposure to be quickly ascribed. Results for various test conditions are presented and evaluated

Keywords

copper; corrosion testing; electrical contacts; environmental testing; gold; life testing; materials testing; nickel; Cu; G1(T); IBM tests; Ni; acceleration tests; business office environments; corrosion gas environmental testing; corrosive gas test environment; corrosive gaseous environmental acceleration test; coulometric reduction; creep corrosion; data system products; electrical contacts; energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis; industrywide testing standard; porous Au; reliability prediction; test conditions; visually examined; Connectors; Contacts; Copper; Corrosion; Data systems; Electrical products industry; Gold; Life estimation; Nickel; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0148-6411

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/33.52845

Filename

52845