Fretting studies of nanocrystalline Pd, Pd-Ag and Pd-Y films

In the present work, the effects of fretting on the contact resistance behavior of nanocrystalline Pd, Pd/sub 90/Y/sub 10/ and Pd/sub 60/Ag/sub 40/ films deposited on phosphorous-nickel and phosphorous-bronze plates was investigated. The wires used were bare copper, tin-plated copper and silver-copper (Ag/sub 90/Cu/sub 10/). Some of the wires were also coated with the same nanostructured films. The contact resistance was used to monitor the interaction between the wires and the plates. Following the fretting experiments, the surface of the contact regions was examined using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray detection and by Auger spectroscopy. The microstructure of the different films, as well as the effect of thermal annealing of the film/plate combination were investigated. This study shows that nanostructured films have a large technological potential in the improvement of low current electrical connections.