The role of tribology in electrical contact phenomena

Abstract The mechanism of electrical contact resistance between lightly loaded sliding surfaces was investigated. It was found that the increase in contact resistance of non-noble or base metal contacts, such as Sn-Pb, is due to the oxidation of metallic wear debris that gets entrapped at sliding contacts. It was hypothesized that when the wear debris is continuously removed from the sliding surfaces even non-noble or base metals ( e.g. copper, nickel and Sn-Pb) exhibit low contact resistance similarly to the noble metals. Experimental work on a modulated contact surface of a base metal contact has shown that the electrical contact resistance was low because the wear debris was effectively trapped, thus confirming the validity of the hypothesis. The implication of these findings for the usage of base metals in electrical contacts is discussed.

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