The composition change of contact material surface [electrical contacts]

Author

Xixiu, Wu ; Meihua, Di ; Zhenbiao, Li ; Chengyan, Liu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Huazhong Univ. of Sci. & Technol., Wuhan, China

fYear

2003

fDate

8-10 Sept. 2003

Firstpage

139

Lastpage

144

Abstract

Contact surface composition change definitely affects the performance of electrical contacts, even making the electrodes fail to work. The composition change of contact material surfaces heated respectively by arcing current and Joule energy is studied in this paper and experimental results indicate that the percentage change of metals is influenced by both the energy input to the electrode and the properties of the contact material, such as thermal conductivity, specific heat, density and melting point etc. Two criteria are presented to show the rules of composition change for contacts heated by arcing current and Joule energy respectively.

Keywords

arcs (electric); electrical contacts; materials properties; surface composition; Joule energy heating; arc current heating; contact material properties; density; electrical contact material surface; electrode energy input; melting point; metals percentage change; specific heat; surface composition change; thermal conductivity; Anodes; Composite materials; Conducting materials; Contacts; Electrodes; Inorganic materials; Materials science and technology; Nickel; Temperature; Tin;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Contacts, 2003. Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth IEEE Holm Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7862-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOLM.2003.1246489

Filename

1246489