EP0318831B1 - Connecteurs électriques de puissance - Google Patents

Connecteurs électriques de puissance Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0318831B1
EP0318831B1 EP88119564A EP88119564A EP0318831B1 EP 0318831 B1 EP0318831 B1 EP 0318831B1 EP 88119564 A EP88119564 A EP 88119564A EP 88119564 A EP88119564 A EP 88119564A EP 0318831 B1 EP0318831 B1 EP 0318831B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
nickel
electric power
power connector
gold
copper
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP88119564A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0318831A2 (fr
EP0318831A3 (en
Inventor
James Alexander Evert Bell
Douglas Albert Hope
Bruce Randolph Conard
Juraj Babjak
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Vale Canada Ltd
Original Assignee
Vale Canada Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Vale Canada Ltd filed Critical Vale Canada Ltd
Priority to AT88119564T priority Critical patent/ATE80501T1/de
Publication of EP0318831A2 publication Critical patent/EP0318831A2/fr
Publication of EP0318831A3 publication Critical patent/EP0318831A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0318831B1 publication Critical patent/EP0318831B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
    • H01R13/02—Contact members
    • H01R13/03—Contact members characterised by the material, e.g. plating, or coating materials

Definitions

  • the present invention is concerned with electrical connectors or contacts and, more particularly, with electrical connectors useful in carrying substantial currents at voltages in excess of, perhaps, 10 volts, according to the first part of the claims 1 or 9 and as known from the document GB-A-2 203 450.
  • the electronic contacts tend to degrade if exposed to temperatures elevated above 25°C even as low as 100°C.
  • Gradually atoms of copper and silver migrate to the gold surface.
  • Migrated copper makes the contact surface subject to sulfidation and oxidation while migrated silver is particularly detrimental when the contact surface is used in sulfidizing atmospheres as mild as ordinary room air.
  • the present invention contemplates an electric power connector adapted to provide an interruptible conductive path for electrical current (for example, current of at least about 0.1 ampere) comprising at least two components adapted to be placed in surface contact one with another. At least one of the components has a fayable surface of contact made of an alloy of gold and nickel. At the fayable contact surface the alloy contains about 1 to about 10% by weight of nickel. The amount of nickel in the gold generally increases with distance from the fayable contact surface to an underlying metallurgically bonded layer preferably of essentially pure nickel. However, the alloy which is made by diffusing nickel from an underlayer into a gold overlayer usually exhibits a particular structure when examined by sputtering and Auger analysis.
  • the immediate surface exhibits a relatively high nickel content.
  • the nickel content falls somewhat and remains relatively constant for perhaps up to two-thirds of the thickness of the gold layer which ranges from 0.3 to 2 micrometers. Over the remaining thickness of the gold-containing layer, the nickel content rises rapidly to the nickel content of the underlying metal.
  • Auger analysis sometimes produces results at the surface of an object being examined which may be surface artifacts and may not represent or be significant with respect to properties of the bulk material. Accordingly, it appears safe to say that in the gold layer of the contact structure of the present invention, the nickel content near the outer surface is at a relatively low level. It remains at that low level until, at some point remote from the surface the nickel content of the gold rapidly increases.
  • the electrical power connector can be in any conventional contact form such as male and female plug components, pins, threaded structures or the like.
  • the connectors are of such configuration that they can be made from composite, electrical contact material in strip form.
  • Such contact material which is also within the contemplation of the present invention comprises a strip-form structural base of electrically conductive material, e.g. metal having at least one major surface comprised of nickel or nickel-rich alloy underlying a layer of gold about 0.1 to 2 micrometers thick metallurgically bonded to the nickel or nickel-rich alloy. This diffusion is such as to provide about 1 to about 10% by weight of nickel at the outer major surface.
  • nickel-rich alloy means an alloy containing at least about 90% nickel advantageously at least 95% or 99% nickel and includes commercially pure nickel and nickel-cobalt alloys.
  • contact materials of the present invention include copper, copper-base alloys such as brass, cupro-nickel, beryllium copper, copper-nickel-tin alloy and copper-nickel-aluminium alloy, nickel, cobalt or nickel-cobalt alloy particularly in strip form.
  • copper, copper-base alloys and cobalt the basic metal has an electrodeposited layer of nickel about 3 to 10 micrometers thick on at least one major surface.
  • the outer portion of that at least one major surface comprises a layer of electroplated gold or a gold alloy containing up to about 1% total nickel and/or cobalt about 0.1 to about 2 micrometers thick which layer of electroplated gold or gold alloy is heat bonded to the nickel so as to provide diffusion of nickel to the gold surface in an amount at or near the surface of about 1% to about 10% total nickel.
  • the strip can be faced on all surfaces with gold or, on the two major surfaces, i.e. the top and bottom or on one major surface.
  • Nickel and nickel-rich alloy strip can be made by conventional metallurgical melt technology wherein a charge of metal is melted, then cast and then hot- and/or cold-worked to strip form.
  • a particularly advantageous method of making nickel, cobalt or nickel-rich alloy strip is to roll compact metal powder, sinter bond and interdiffuse the roll-compacted metal powder and thereafter or simultaneously roll the bonded powder product to strip form and thickness.
  • Strip of metal other than nickel or nickel-rich alloy which can form the principal structural element of the connectors of the present invention is generally made in a conventional manner and is commercially available from many sources.
  • the present invention contemplates use of commercially available strip of copper, brass, aluminium bronze, cupro-nickel, beryllium copper, copper-nickel-tin alloy and any other metal or other electrically conductive material useful in the electrical contact art.
  • This strip is thoroughly cleaned by conventional means such as alkaline cleaning baths, solvent and vapor degreasing, etc. and then electroplated to provide a layer of nickel about 5 to about 10 micrometers thick.
  • One of the electroplating baths set forth in Electroplating Engineering Handbook, 3rd Ed., A. Kenneth Graham, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, Copyright, 1971 at page 247 can be used to electroplate nickel.
  • Gold is electrodeposited over either the nickel strip or plated nickel from a cyanide-type, citrate-type or other type of bath adapted to produce a pure soft gold electro-deposit.
  • the strip is then heat treated at about 350°C to 600°C for times ranging from 2 hours to 10 seconds so as to diffuse nickel into the gold to reach a level of from 1 to 10% nickel at the gold outer surface.
  • the electrical connector materials and electrical contacts made therefrom as contemplated in the present invention are advantageous with respect to contacts made of base metals in that they are and remain through their useful lives essentially free of corrosion products and thus give reliable, stable contact service.
  • the contacts and contact materials of the present invention are advantageous when the contact must be broken periodically. In these situations, a pure gold surface becomes galled or roughened, gold-on-gold contacting surfaces tend to sinter or fuse together and the contact cannot readily be separated.
  • the present invention is based upon the discovery that when gold contacting surfaces contain 1 to 10% nickel such modified gold-on-modified gold contacts do not exhibit the fusing or sintering character of pure gold and thus the contacts can always be easily broken, provided of course, that the circuit including the contact has not been overloaded beyond design capacity.
  • heat treatment time will normally vary with temperatures such that longer times will be used at lower temperatures and vice versa with a given thickness of gold. Lower temperatures and shorter times at a given temperature will be employed with thinner gold layers than with thicker gold layers.
  • diffusion of nickel into gold can be carried out simultaneously with age-hardening of an age-hardenable substrate. Normally, this age-hardening of, for example, copper-base-alloys such as beryllium copper or a copper-nickel-tin alloy or a copper-nickel aluminium alloy will be carried out after the contact material is in final form as an electrical contact.
  • strip form of beryllium copper is blanked and shaped to contact configuration.
  • the thus shaped contacts are then electroplated sequentially with nickel and gold and then heat treated at a temperature and time combination selected in consideration of the thickness of electroplated gold so as to achieve both age-hardening of the substrate and proper gold-nickel interdiffusion at the same time.
  • contacts may be blanked out of composite gold-nickel-copper beryllium strip, formed and then heat treated.
  • the annealing heat treatment which produces diffusion of nickel and gold can be carried out simultaneously with hot rerolling of plated strip material.
  • nickel strip made by roll compacting and then sintering and rolling nickel powder can be electroplated with gold and then rerolled at a temperature in the range of 350°C to 500°C to enhance the metallurgical bond between the nickel and gold and effectuate the diffusion of the nickel.
  • the metallurgical bond and diffusion can be accomplished by the annealing heat treatment as described hereinbefore and the composite can be cold rolled either before or after annealing so as to enhance mechanical characteristics.
  • a nickel strip made from roll compacted and sintered nickel powder about 0.5 mm thick, about 30 mm wide and about 70 meters long is thoroughly cleaned, mildly etched and electroplated with gold from a citrate-base electroplating bath to provide a uniform, pure gold deposit about 0.5 micrometer thick.
  • the plated strip is thoroughly rinsed to remove any trace of electrolyte, dried and then heat treated by being passed through a furnace.
  • the furnace is held at 480°C and contains an atmosphere of 10 volume percent hydrogen, balance nitrogen. Cool strip is fed to the furnace and passes through with a residence time of six minutes. As the strip exits the furnace it is cooled under the same reducing conditions and then coiled.
  • the composite nickel-gold contact material made in this way gives excellent results in electric contact service composite material to composite material.
  • the contacts exhibit essentially no detrimental behavior over time when exposed to normal service.
  • the contacts do not corrode, gall or pit in service and can be disconnected hundreds of times without difficulty even when exposed in use to temperatures up to about 200°C.

Landscapes

  • Contacts (AREA)
  • Details Of Connecting Devices For Male And Female Coupling (AREA)
  • Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
  • Cable Accessories (AREA)

Claims (14)

  1. Connecteur électrique de puissance destiné à réaliser un trajet conducteur, pouvant être coupé, pour un courant électrique, comprenant au moins deux composants destinés à être mis en contact de surface l'un avec l'autre, au moins l'un desdits composants ayant une surface affleurante de contact réalisée en un alliage d'or et de nickel, ledit alliage contenant environ 1 à environ 10 % en poids de nickel à proximité de ladite surface affleurante de contact, caractérisé en ce que ladite quantité dudit nickel demeure sensiblement constante sur une certaine distance à partir de la surface et ensuite, en un point situé à l'intérieur de ladite surface affleurante, commence d'augmenter avec la distance à ladite surface affleurante de contact vers l'interface du métal contenant de l'or et d'une couche sous-jacente, liée par voie métallurgique, d'un métal du groupe du nickel et d'alliages riches en nickel.
  2. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 1, dans lequel ladite couche sous-jacente, liée par voie métallurgique, est une couche de nickel sensiblement pur.
  3. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 2, dans lequel ladite couche de nickel sensiblement pur est l'élément principal de la structure dudit connecteur.
  4. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 1, dans lequel ladite couche sous-jacente, liée par voie métallurgique, est réalisée par électro-dépôt de nickel sur une épaisseur d'environ 3 à environ 10 micromètres sur un substrat électro-conducteur.
  5. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 4, dans lequel ledit substrat électro-conducteur est choisi dans le groupe du nickel, laiton, bronze d'aluminium, alliage cuivre-nickel-aluminium, cupro-nickel, cuivre au béryllium et alliage cuivre-nickel-étain.
  6. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 5, dans lequel ledit substrat électro-conducteur est choisi dans le groupe des alliages à base de cuivre ayant subi un durcissement de vieillissement.
  7. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel deux composants ou davantage dudit connecteur ont des surfaces affleurantes dudit alliage d'or et de nickel.
  8. Connecteur électrique de puissance selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comprenant des composants complémentaires mâle et femelle.
  9. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance comprenant une base électro-conductrice ayant au moins une surface réalisée en un métal du groupe du nickel et d'alliages riches en nickel et comportant une couche d'or d'environ 0,1 à 2 micromètres d'épaisseur qui recouvre cette base et qui lui est liée par voie métallurgique, caractérisé en ce que ladite couche d'or contient à proximité de sa surface extérieure environ 1 à 10 % en poids de nickel, la teneur en nickel demeurant sensiblement constante sur une certaine distance vers l'intérieur de ladite surface extérieure et commençant de croître en un point distant de ladite surface extérieure, puis continuant à croître avec l'augmentation, de la distance à ladite surface extérieure.
  10. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 9, dans lequel le métal sous-jacent est du nickel.
  11. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 10, dans lequel ledit nickel est un électro-dépôt sur une base électro-conductrice.
  12. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance selon l'une quelconque des revendications 9 à 11, dans lequel ladite base électro-conductrice est un métal du groupe du cuivre, laiton, bronze d'aluminium, cuivre-nickel-aluminium, cupro-nickel, cuivre au béryllium et alliage cuivre-nickel-étain.
  13. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance selon la revendication 12, dans lequel ledit substrat électro-conducteur est un alliage ayant subit un durcissement de vieillissement et à base de cuivre.
  14. Matériau de connecteur électrique de puissance selon l'une quelconque des revendications 9 à 13, sous forme de ruban.
EP88119564A 1987-12-02 1988-11-24 Connecteurs électriques de puissance Expired - Lifetime EP0318831B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT88119564T ATE80501T1 (de) 1987-12-02 1988-11-24 Elektrische leistungsverbinder.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA553333 1987-12-02
CA000553333A CA1331325C (fr) 1987-12-02 1987-12-02 Connecteurs

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0318831A2 EP0318831A2 (fr) 1989-06-07
EP0318831A3 EP0318831A3 (en) 1990-09-26
EP0318831B1 true EP0318831B1 (fr) 1992-09-09

Family

ID=4136987

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP88119564A Expired - Lifetime EP0318831B1 (fr) 1987-12-02 1988-11-24 Connecteurs électriques de puissance

Country Status (7)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0318831B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPH067452B2 (fr)
AT (1) ATE80501T1 (fr)
CA (1) CA1331325C (fr)
DE (1) DE3874492T2 (fr)
ES (1) ES2034127T3 (fr)
GR (1) GR3005728T3 (fr)

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CA2069390A1 (fr) * 1991-09-05 1993-03-06 James Alexander Evert Bell Contacts ou connecteurs electriques anticorrosion haute temperature et methode de fabrication connexe
US5533915A (en) * 1993-09-23 1996-07-09 Deans; William S. Electrical connector assembly
JP2002017073A (ja) * 2000-02-11 2002-01-18 Litton Systems Inc 貴金属クラッドブラシワイヤーおよびスリップリング組立体
DE112007000210T5 (de) 2006-01-19 2008-11-06 Advantest Corp. Kontaktvorrichtung und Verfahren zur Herstellung derselben
JP2008078061A (ja) * 2006-09-25 2008-04-03 Alps Electric Co Ltd 弾性接触子及びその製造方法、ならびに前記弾性接触子を用いた接続装置及びその製造方法
US7374460B1 (en) 2007-04-17 2008-05-20 Traxxas Lp Electrical connector assembly
USD939442S1 (en) 2020-03-16 2021-12-28 Traxxas Lp Electrical connector for a model vehicle
USD933014S1 (en) 2020-03-16 2021-10-12 Traxxas Lp Electrical connector for a model vehicle
US11569589B2 (en) 2020-04-07 2023-01-31 Traxxas, L.P. Electrical power tap connector

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3214989A1 (de) * 1982-04-22 1983-11-10 Doduco KG Dr. Eugen Dürrwächter, 7530 Pforzheim Mit edelmetall oder einer edelmetallegierung beschichtetes elektrisches kontaktstueck
JPS61233912A (ja) * 1985-04-09 1986-10-18 田中貴金属工業株式会社 電気接触子材料
CA1270408A (fr) * 1987-04-07 1990-06-19 James Alexander Evert Bell Article enduit ayant une base en metal par vieillissement

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPH067452B2 (ja) 1994-01-26
DE3874492D1 (de) 1992-10-15
ES2034127T3 (es) 1993-04-01
EP0318831A2 (fr) 1989-06-07
DE3874492T2 (de) 1993-02-25
JPH01194218A (ja) 1989-08-04
CA1331325C (fr) 1994-08-09
EP0318831A3 (en) 1990-09-26
ATE80501T1 (de) 1992-09-15
GR3005728T3 (fr) 1993-06-07

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