Title :
Safe levels of silicone contamination for electrical contact
Author :
Tamai, Terutaka ; Aramata, Mikio
Author_Institution :
Electron. Inst., Hyogo Univ. of Teacher Educ., Japan
Abstract :
The effect of silicone vapour concentration on the contact failure was examined by using micro relays and motor brush-slip ring (commutator) contacts. A minimum limiting concentration level which does not affect contact reliability was found. This limiting level was 10 ppm (0.13 mg/1). Validity of the limiting level was confirmed by the relationships among concentration, temperature, SiO2 film thickness and contact resistance. Furthermore, the effect of the degree of silicone polymerization on the limiting concentration was derived by an empirical formula. These results were confirmed by the contact failure data due to the silicone contamination
Keywords :
commutators; contact resistance; electrical contacts; environmental degradation; environmental testing; failure analysis; impurities; polymerisation; relays; reliability; silicones; surface contamination; SiO2; SiO2 film thickness; commutator contacts; contact failure; contact reliability; contact resistance; electrical contact; micro relays; minimum limiting concentration level; motor brush-slip ring contacts; safe levels; silicone contamination; silicone polymerization; silicone vapour concentration; temperature; Atmosphere; Chemicals; Contact resistance; Micromotors; Microrelays; Polymers; Resistance heating; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination; Temperature;
Conference_Titel :
Electrical Contacts, 1993., Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth IEEE Holm Conference on
Conference_Location :
Pittsburgh, PA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1270-8
DOI :
10.1109/HOLM.1993.489686
