Reliability study on crimping joint of copper-clad aluminum wire cable in spacecraft

The space cable plays an important role in signal transmission and power distribution in spacecraft, and is an important part of connecting the subsystems and units. The number and weight of the space cables of spacecraft are increasing with the increasingly complex payload function of the spacecraft, which leads to a large increase in the cost of the whole satellite. The copper-clad aluminum (CCA) wire is 40% lighter than copper wire, which was used by Chinese satellite before. Some Europe and America communication satellite manufacturer use copper-clad aluminum (CCA) wire in order to reduce the satellite weight. Based on the study of crimping technology of light-weight copper-clad aluminum and electrical connector terminal which made in china, the tensile strength, sealing, metallographic and contact resistance of the crimping joints were analyzed. It was found that the hardness of the connector terminal, the position of the observation hole, and the match of wire gauge and terminal directly affect the crimping joints quality.