Correlation of surface contamination introduced by feeding equipment on electrical contact resistance

Author

Francisco, H.A. ; Koeneke, K. ; Wallace, J.

Author_Institution

Deringer Manuf. Co., Mundelein, IL, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

6-9 Oct. 1991

Firstpage

261

Lastpage

270

Abstract

Contact degradation caused by austenitic stainless steel feeder bowls has raised concern among manufacturers of electrical contacts. The surface contamination of three contact materials, fine silver, silver cadmium oxide (90%Ag 10%CdO), and a silver alloy (75%Ag 24.5%Cu 0. 5%Ni) with 15-microinch (Ra) surface finish, was investigated. Contact resistance probing was employed and surfaces were analyzed to explain the degradation process. The investigation elucidated the effects of various vibratory feeder bowl coatings which reduced surface contamination. The attainment of low contact resistance was explained as interactions among nobility of contact material, type of coating, and time spent in the vibratory feeder bowl.<>

Keywords

austenitic stainless steel; contact resistance; electrical contacts; quality control; Ag contacts; Ag-CdO contacts; Ag-Cu-Ni alloy contacts; austenitic stainless steel feeder bowls; contact degradation; contact resistance probing; degradation process; electrical contact resistance; electrical contacts manufacture; feeder bowl coatings; feeding equipment; surface contamination; time spent in bowl; vibratory feeder bowl coatings; Cadmium compounds; Coatings; Contact resistance; Degradation; Manufacturing; Silver; Steel; Surface contamination; Surface finishing; Surface resistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Contacts, 1991. Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh IEEE Holm Conference on

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0231-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOLM.1991.170832

Filename

170832