JPH06325650A - Combination electric contact and relay and switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain both ensuring high contact reliability and improving adhesion resistance by forming the first layer, where the first and second contact are brought into contact with each other, into combination of different kind material of Au system. CONSTITUTION:The first contact 1 has the first layer 2 consisting of Au system material, second layer 3 consisting of Ag-Ni alloy and the third layer 4 consisting of Cu-Ni alloy. The second contact 5, opposed to the contact 1, has the first layer 6 consisting of Au or Au alloy, second layer 7 consisting of Ag-Ni alloy and the third layer 8 consisting of Cu-Ni alloy. The layer 2 of the contact 1 is set to an Ag-Au alloy containing 7 to 13wt.% Ag and an Au-Ni alloy containing 1 to 3wt.% Ni or an Au-Pd alloy containing 3 to 7wt.% Pd. The layer 6 of the contact 5 is used with Au and Au alloy or Au-Ag-Pt alloy (PGS).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combined electrical contact in which two kinds of contacts are combined and made to face each other, and a relay and a switch which incorporate and use the electric contacts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional general electric contact, in order to improve contact reliability of both opposing contacts, a plating layer or a clad layer made of Au or a clad made of an Au-based alloy is formed on each surface of both contacts. A homogeneous material layer called a layer was formed.

[0003]

However, in the conventional electrical contact as described above, the Au or Au-based material forming the surface layers of both contacts is very soft and easily plastically deformed, and chemically. Since it is stable, it has the property that a surface film is hard to form, but even with a low contact force, a new surface appears due to plastic deformation, and adhesion occurs due to the action of surface energy accompanying contact on this new surface. Both contact points are likely to be inseparable or difficult to open, and such adhesion has been a cause of deterioration in reliability as an electrical contact point.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned sticking phenomenon, a hard plating layer is formed on the surface of the Au-based contact,
Alternatively, it may be considered that the contact itself is made of a metal material having a high hardness other than Au, but these are not preferable in terms of contact reliability.
In particular, as with the current relays and switches, with the progress of lighter, thinner and smaller size, and lower power consumption, the contact opening force tends to become smaller and smaller. There is a strong demand for improvement in tack resistance while maintaining the properties.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a combined electrical contact capable of ensuring both high contact reliability and improved adhesion resistance.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a combination electrical contact according to claim 1 of the present invention is Ag.
A first contact having a first layer of Au-Ag alloy containing 7 to 13 wt% and a second contact having a first layer of Au.
The contact points are combined to face each other.

A combination electrical contact according to claim 2 is
A first contact having a first layer made of an Au-Ni alloy containing 1 to 3% by weight of Ni and a second contact having a first layer made of Au or an Au alloy are combined and opposed to each other. .

A in the combination electric contact according to claim 2
As the u alloy, Au-Ag containing 7 to 13% by weight of Ag
Alloy, Au-Pd alloy containing 3 to 7 wt% Pd, or Au-Ag-Pt containing 25 wt% Ag and 6 wt% Pt.
Any of the alloys may be used.

The combination electrical contact according to claim 6 is
A first contact having a first layer made of an Au-Pd alloy containing 3 to 7% by weight of Pd and a second contact having a first layer made of Au are combined and opposed to each other.

Further, the combined electrical contact according to claim 7 has a first contact having a first layer made of an Au-Pd alloy containing 3 to 7 wt% of Pd and an Au-containing alloy containing 25 wt% of Ag and 6 wt% of Pt. A second contact having a first layer made of an Ag-Pt alloy is combined and made to face each other.

Furthermore, the present invention also provides a relay and a switch configured by using any one of the above-described combined electrical contacts.

[0012]

The combination electrical contacts according to the inventions of claims 1 to 7 are:
In both cases, since the first layers of the first contact and the second contact, which are in contact with each other, are made of different Au-based materials, the bonding force between the metals is greater than that when they are made of the same kind of material. Is small, the sticking occurrence rate is reduced, and even if it occurs, the sticking force becomes small. Therefore, the contact reliability is sufficiently high by using the Au-based material, which is very soft in terms of material, easily plastically deformed, and chemically stable so that the surface film is not easily formed. It is possible to improve the adhesion resistance while keeping it.

Further, if the relay and the switch are constructed by using the electric contacts having such excellent characteristics, even if the contact opening force becomes smaller with the progress of lighter and thinner size and lower power consumption, It is possible to obtain a highly reliable relay and switch that sufficiently fulfills the above requirements and reliably exhibits a predetermined contact and separation function.

[0014]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be specifically described by way of examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a combination electric contact,
In the figure, 1 is a first contact, which is a first layer 2 made of various Au-based materials described later, a second layer 3 made of an Ag—Ni alloy, and a third layer made of a Cu—Ni alloy. 4 and. Reference numeral 5 is a second contact facing the first contact 1, and is a first contact made of Au or an Au alloy described later.
Layer 6, second layer 7 made of Ag-Ni alloy, and Cu-N
and a third layer 7 made of an i alloy. Note that the constituent materials of the second layers 3 and 7 and the third layers 4 and 8 of the first and second contacts 1 and 5 are examples, and are not limited to the above. Further, it is not limited to such a three-layer structure, and may have a two-layer structure or a four-layer structure.

Example 1 The first layer 2 of the first contact 1 was made of Au containing 10% by weight of Ag.
The first contact of the second contact 5 while being composed of an Ag alloy.
Layer 6 was composed of Au.

Examples 2 to 5 The first layer 2 of the first contact 1 is made of Au-containing 2% by weight of Ni.
The first layer 6 of the second contact 5 is made of a Ni alloy, and the first layer 6 of the second contact 5 is made of Au-Ag alloy containing 10% by weight of Ag and P, P.
An Au-Pd alloy containing d5 wt% and an Au-Ag-Pt alloy containing 25 wt% Ag and 6 wt% Pt (hereinafter referred to as
(Referred to as PGS).

Examples 6 and 7 The first layer 2 of the first contact 1 was made of Au-containing 5% by weight of Pd.
The first layer 6 of the second contact 5 was made of Pd alloy and Au and PGS.

Comparative Example 1 First layer 2 of first contact 1 and first layer 6 of second contact 5
Are both made of Au. Comparative Example 2 First layer 2 of first contact 1 and first layer 6 of second contact 5
Were both composed of an Au-Ag alloy containing 10% by weight of Ag.

Comparison of Adhesive Properties With respect to each of the combined contacts of Examples 1 to 7 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, after the contacts 1 and 2 were brought into contact with each other with a load of 10 gf, the opening force required when they were subsequently separated 2 is shown in FIG. As is clear from this experimental result, Comparative Example 1,
It can be seen that the combined electrical contact of the present invention has an adhesion coefficient of all (1/2) as compared with the combination of the same materials shown in 2. Note that, in FIG. 2, the one described as AuAg10 represents an Au-Ag alloy containing 10% by weight of Ag, and the one described as AuNi2 represents 2% by weight of Ni.
Showing an Au-Ni alloy containing "AuPd5" indicates an Au-Pd alloy containing 5% by weight of Pd,
What is described as PGS is 25 wt% Ag, Pt6
1 shows an Au-Ag-Pt alloy containing wt%.

[0020]

As described above, according to claims 1 to 7 of the present invention.
According to the above, by using a combination of different Au-based materials for the first layers of the first contact and the second contact, which are in contact with each other, compared with the conventional one formed of the same kind of material. It is possible to reduce the adhesion force between metals by reducing the bonding force between metals at the time of contact, and even when the adhesion occurs, the adhesion force can be reduced. Therefore, the use of an Au-based material, which is very soft in terms of material, easy to plastically deform, and chemically stable to prevent the formation of a surface film, has been recognized in the past. It is possible to achieve both high contact reliability and improved adhesion resistance.

Further, by using the electric contact having such excellent characteristics, it can be used as a contact for a relay or a switch which tends to have a smaller opening force as the contact becomes lighter, thinner and smaller and consumes less power. It can be used effectively enough and its reliability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a combination electrical contact according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the adhesive property of the present invention in comparison with a conventional one.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 1st contact 2 1st layer of 1st contact 5 2nd contact 6 1st layer of 2nd contact

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A combination of a first contact having a first layer made of an Au—Ag alloy containing 7 to 13% by weight of Ag and a second contact having a first layer made of Au, which are opposed to each other. Combined electrical contact characterized by. 2. A first contact having a first layer of an Au—Ni alloy containing 1-3 wt% Ni, and Au or Au.
A combined electrical contact, characterized in that it is combined with a second contact having a first layer made of an alloy to face each other. 3. The combination electrical contact according to claim 2, wherein an Au—Ag alloy containing 7 to 13% by weight of Ag is used as the Au alloy. 4. The Au alloy as Pd is 3 to 7% by weight.
The combination electrical contact according to claim 2, wherein an Au-Pd alloy containing is used. 5. The above-mentioned Au alloy, Ag 25% by weight,
A combination electrical contact according to claim 2, wherein an Au-Ag-Pt alloy containing 6% by weight of Pt is used. 6. A first contact having a first layer made of an Au—Pd alloy containing 3 to 7% by weight of Pd and a second contact having a first layer made of Au are combined and opposed to each other. Combined electrical contact characterized by. 7. A first contact having a first layer made of an Au—Pd alloy containing 3 to 7% by weight of Pd and a first layer made of an Au—Ag—Pt alloy containing 25% by weight of Ag and 6% by weight of Pt. A combined electrical contact characterized by being combined with a second contact that it has and facing each other. 8. A relay comprising the combined electrical contact according to any one of claims 1 to 7. 9. A switch, which is configured by using the combined electrical contact according to any one of claims 1 to 7.