Observations of electrical contact surface in Cu-Ag/Ni couple with make/break

A mechanism of erosion (wear) and material transfer occurring on electrical contact surface during make/break was investigated with Cu-Ag/Ni couples. It was found that the state of contact surface depends largely on the duration of anodic arc discharge and that the formation of a thin film of Cu/sub 2/O on the surface plays an important role in controlling the erosion and material transfer to be generated on the contact surface. On the basis of the experimental results, a model for explaining the configurational and compositional change in electrical contact surface has been proposed, which is composed of four kinds of stages per make/break cycle.<
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