Pg. Slade et al., The unusual electrical erosion of high tungsten content, tungsten copper contacts switching load current in vacuum, IEEE T COMP, 24(3), 2001, pp. 320-330
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Material Science & Engineering
Journal title
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES
The electrical erosion of high tungsten content, tungsten-copper (7-10 wt.
% Cu) was investigated. The contacts were placed in a vacuum interrupter en
velope with a background pressure of about 10(-6) torr. The contacts switch
ed one half cycle of 60 Hz current per operation. The polarity of the curre
nt was changed on each operation. Six contact pairs were investigated. Each
pair was subjected to an ever-increasing number of operations: 1K, 5K, 10K
, 20K, 40K, 50K, and 60K. The contact erosion was inferred by measuring the
linear position of the moving contact terminal. On completing the electric
al testing, the vacuum interrupters were dismantled and the contact surface
s were observed. Unlike the previous work on Ag-WC (50 wt. % Ag) and Cu-Cr
(75 wt. % Cu), the W-Cu contacts showed a localized build up of erosion pro
ducts on the contact surfaces even beginning at 1K operations. The experime
nts were repeated switching a unidirectional current i.e., the contacts rem
ained at the same polarity throughout the experiments. Here an anode pip an
d a cathode crater were formed immediately. The difference in the topograph
ies of these contacts is discussed in terms of the metallographic analysis
of the deposits on the contacts, the erosion deposits on the shields surrou
nding the contacts and the expansion of the vacuum arc.