US3826886A - Contact material - Google Patents

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Publication number
US3826886A
US3826886A US00241326A US24132672A US3826886A US 3826886 A US3826886 A US 3826886A US 00241326 A US00241326 A US 00241326A US 24132672 A US24132672 A US 24132672A US 3826886 A US3826886 A US 3826886A
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United States
Prior art keywords
contact
percent
atom
palladium
alloy
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Expired - Lifetime
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US00241326A
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English (en)
Inventor
T Hara
H Tanaka
S Shimosato
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Fujitsu Ltd
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Fujitsu Ltd
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Publication date
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Publication of US3826886A publication Critical patent/US3826886A/en
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00—Contacts
    • H01H1/02—Contacts characterised by the material thereof
    • H01H1/021—Composite material
    • H01H1/023—Composite material having a noble metal as the basic material

Definitions

  • a contact material having a high durability is prepared from an alloy consisting of to 85 percent by atom Cl 5/l R of palladium and 55 to 15 percent by atom of alumin- [51] Int. Cl.
  • the present invention relates to a novel contact material, more particularly, relates to a contact material consisting of a palladium-aluminium alloy and having a high durability.
  • Electromagnetic relays which include one or more contacts are generally utilized for electrical machinery and apparatus under low level to high level conditions. While electro-magnetic relays having a high durability have heretofore been proposed, such devices have not been found completely satisfactory because of undesirable properties of the conventional contact materials.
  • contact failures may be classified l broadly into two classes:
  • conventional contacts are made of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, molybdenum, tungusten and alloys including one or more of the abovementioned metals.
  • contact material consisting of gold, silver or alloys thereof has a high resistance to corrosion and a low activity for formation of organic polymer, it has undesirably low resistance against material transfer and erosion.
  • contact material consisting of a platinum group metal for example, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium and alloys thereof, has a high resistance against material transfer and erosion but it has an unfavourable high activity for formation of organic polymer.
  • a contact material consisting of a metal with a high melting point such as molybdenum, tungsten and alloys thereof has excellent resistance against material transfer and erosion and a low activity for formation of organic polymer while it has an undesirable low resistance against formation of corrosion products.
  • intermetallic compounds have a higher hardness and melting point than those of simple metals or nonintermetallic compound alloys because the metal atoms in the intermetallic compound are strongly and stably bonded to each other. Accordingly, contact materials consisting essentially of an intermetallic compound have a high resistance to material transfer and erosion. Also, since the intermetallic compounds have poor chemical activity, contact material consisting essentially of them have a poor activity for formation of organic polymer layer and a high resistance to corrosion.
  • the intermetallic compounds have an adoptability for the contact material higher than that of the conventional simple metals or alloys.
  • the intermetallic compound contains no noble metal such as gold, silver and platinum group metals for example, in the case of tungsten carbide (WC) or nickel tin intermetallic compound (NiSn), such intermetallic compounds have an undesirable high tendency to form a stable oxide film on the surface thereof in atmosphere. Accordingly, contacts made up of the intermetallic compounds containing no noble metal frequently suffer from contact failures and thus can not be used under medium or low level conditions.
  • An object of the present invention is to provide a contact material satisfying the above-stated requirements that is, having high resistance to corrosion, material transfer, and low erosion and low activity for formation of an organic polymer layer and thus excellent durability.
  • the object of the present invention can be accomplished by a contact material composed of an alloy consisting of 45 to percent by mol of palladium and 55 to 15 percent by atom of aluminium.
  • FIG. I is a phase diagram of palladium-aluminium system
  • FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are photographs showing the resistance of Pd metal, Pd-Ag alloy and PdgAl and PdAl compounds to material transfer and erosion,
  • FIG. 3 is a graph showing'the relationship between cumulative failure rate and number of operations for Pd metal and Pd Al and PdAl compounds.
  • F IG. 4 shows a circuit for testing the properties of the contact material.
  • the palladium-aluminium alloys are prepared by an arc-melting method in which a predetermined quantity of palladium (purity: 99.98 percent or higher) is meltmixed with a balanced quantity of aluminium (purity: 99.999 percent or higher) in an electric furnace using a non-consumption type tungsten anode in an argon atmosphere.
  • the palladium-aluminium alloy includes three intermetallic compounds, Pd Al PdAl and Pd Al which have properties as shown in Table l.
  • an alloy consisting of 45 to 85 percent by atom of palladium and 55 to l5 percent by atom of aluminium and containing at least one of PdgAl and PdAl, has excellent resistance to corrosion, high hardness and melting point and low chemical activity for formation of organic polymer, and therefore is useful as a contact material having high resistance to material transfer and erosion.
  • a contact made of the material of the present invention can stably retain a low contact resistance even after the contacts are operated times at a contact force of about 4 g at a drive frequency of 1.5 Hz under a contact load of mV 6 mA in air of a relative humidity of 80 to 90 percent.
  • the resultant alloy has a undesirable high activity for the formation of organic polymer on the surface thereof. Also, if the amount of palladium in the alloy is less than 45 percent by atom, the resultant alloy has a low resistance to corrosion, material transfer and erosion.
  • FlGS. 2A to 20 show the resistance to material transfer and erosion of button-shaped contact made up of a simple Pd metal alloy consisting of 60 parts by atom of Pd and 40 parts by atom of Ag, and intermetallic compounds consisting of Pd Al and PdAl, respectively.
  • the button-shaped material was made the cathode and the Pd wire was made the anode.
  • C.F.R. cumulative failure rate
  • An intermetallic compound PdAl was prepared from 50 parts by atom of palladium (purity: higher than 99.98 percent) and 50 parts by atom of aluminium (purity: higher than 99.999 percent) by arc-melting them in a water-cooled copper hearth using a non consumption type tungsten anode in an argon atmosphere for 30 to seconds.
  • the resultant compound was repeatedly arc-treated in the water-cooled copper hearth on the alternate surfaces thereof in order to homogenize the internal structure thereof.
  • the homogenized compound was annealed at l300C for 5 to 6 hours.
  • the annealed compound was formed into a buttonshaped contact strip at 500 to 700C.
  • the resultant contact strip had a hardness of 495 Hv.
  • the two PdAl contact strips were made the anode and cathode, facing each other, of an electromagnetic relay in the circuit as shown in FIG. 4.
  • the contacting operation was carried out in air of a relative humidity of to percent.
  • An intermetallic compound PdgA] was prepared from 66.7 parts by atom of pure palladium and 33.7 parts by atom of pure aluminium by the same procedure as Example But the annealing temperature was at 1200C.
  • Example 2 The same testing as in Example 1 was applied to the compound Pd Al in air containing 100 ppm. of H S gas and having a relative humidity of 80 to 90 percent.
  • the Pd Al contact showed, acumulative failure rate of about 54 percent whereas a simple Pd metal contact showed a cumulative failure
  • EXAMPLE 3 An alloy was prepared from 60 parts by atom of pure palladium and 40 parts by atom of pure aluminium by the same method as in Example 1.
  • the resultant 60 Pd 40 Al alloy was given the same tests as in Example 1 in air of a relative humidity of 80 to 9 0 percent ii'v'efirtr 1.4 X l0 ope rations, no
  • EXAMPLE 5 The same procedure as in Example 1 was repeated using parts by atom of pure palladium and 15 parts ,by atom of pure aluminium. But the annealing temperature was llO0C.
  • Example 2 The same testing procedure as in Example 1 was carried out for the above 85 Pd 15 Al alloy in air containing saturated xylene vapor. Even after 1.0 X 10 operations, the 85 Pd 15 Al alloy contact showed no contact failures.
  • said contact is composed of an alloy consisting of l from 45 percent to 85 percent by atom of palladium and (2) from 55 percent to 15 percent by atom of aluminium.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Composite Materials (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Contacts (AREA)
  • Conductive Materials (AREA)
US00241326A 1971-04-15 1972-04-05 Contact material Expired - Lifetime US3826886A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP46023468A JPS5138439B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-04-15 1971-04-15

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3826886A true US3826886A (en) 1974-07-30

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US00241326A Expired - Lifetime US3826886A (en) 1971-04-15 1972-04-05 Contact material

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US (1) US3826886A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS5138439B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CA (1) CA961308A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE2218460C3 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1386157A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4468370A (en) * 1980-05-20 1984-08-28 The Research Institute Of Electric And Magnetic Alloys Electrical resistant alloys having a small temperature dependence of electrical resistance over a wide temperature range and a method of producing the same
US4517156A (en) * 1980-05-20 1985-05-14 The Foundation: The Research Institute Of Electric And Magnetic Alloys Electrical resistant alloys having a small temperature dependence of electric resistance over a wide temperature range and a method of producing the same
US4573030A (en) * 1983-12-29 1986-02-25 At&T Bell Laboratories Sealed relay structure
US5139891A (en) * 1991-07-01 1992-08-18 Olin Corporation Palladium alloys having utility in electrical applications
US5236789A (en) * 1991-07-01 1993-08-17 Olin Corporation Palladium alloys having utility in electrical applications
US20010030363A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2001-10-18 Dinesh Chopra Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US6798050B1 (en) * 1999-09-22 2004-09-28 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Semiconductor device having semiconductor element with copper pad mounted on wiring substrate and method for fabricating the same
CN109141208A (zh) * 2018-10-29 2019-01-04 中国船舶重工集团公司第七0七研究所 一种高灵敏度和高线性度的传感器
CN109186439A (zh) * 2018-10-29 2019-01-11 中国船舶重工集团公司第七0七研究所 一种传感器用高稳定、高可靠、低损耗骨架构件
WO2020173909A1 (en) 2019-02-26 2020-09-03 Umicore Ag & Co. Kg Catalyst materials comprising nanoparticles on a carrier and methods for their production

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3621779A1 (de) * 1986-06-28 1988-01-14 Degussa Werkstoff fuer elektrische schwachstromkontakte

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2418710A (en) * 1944-11-10 1947-04-08 Mallory & Co Inc P R Electric contact and brush
US2787688A (en) * 1951-07-10 1957-04-02 North Electric Co Contact material
US3428490A (en) * 1962-08-29 1969-02-18 Sun Oil Co Noble metal aluminum alloys as catalysts for fuel cell electrodes

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2418710A (en) * 1944-11-10 1947-04-08 Mallory & Co Inc P R Electric contact and brush
US2787688A (en) * 1951-07-10 1957-04-02 North Electric Co Contact material
US3428490A (en) * 1962-08-29 1969-02-18 Sun Oil Co Noble metal aluminum alloys as catalysts for fuel cell electrodes

Cited By (18)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4468370A (en) * 1980-05-20 1984-08-28 The Research Institute Of Electric And Magnetic Alloys Electrical resistant alloys having a small temperature dependence of electrical resistance over a wide temperature range and a method of producing the same
US4517156A (en) * 1980-05-20 1985-05-14 The Foundation: The Research Institute Of Electric And Magnetic Alloys Electrical resistant alloys having a small temperature dependence of electric resistance over a wide temperature range and a method of producing the same
US4573030A (en) * 1983-12-29 1986-02-25 At&T Bell Laboratories Sealed relay structure
US5139891A (en) * 1991-07-01 1992-08-18 Olin Corporation Palladium alloys having utility in electrical applications
US5236789A (en) * 1991-07-01 1993-08-17 Olin Corporation Palladium alloys having utility in electrical applications
US20040238955A1 (en) * 1999-09-22 2004-12-02 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
US6798050B1 (en) * 1999-09-22 2004-09-28 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Semiconductor device having semiconductor element with copper pad mounted on wiring substrate and method for fabricating the same
US6756678B2 (en) 2000-03-03 2004-06-29 Micron Technology, Inc. Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US20040011554A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2004-01-22 Dinesh Chopra Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US6613671B1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2003-09-02 Micron Technology, Inc. Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US20010030363A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2001-10-18 Dinesh Chopra Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US20050009318A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2005-01-13 Dinesh Chopra Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US7176576B2 (en) 2000-03-03 2007-02-13 Micron Technology, Inc. Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US7220663B2 (en) 2000-03-03 2007-05-22 Micron Technology, Inc. Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
US7329607B2 (en) 2000-03-03 2008-02-12 Micron Technology, Inc. Conductive connection forming methods, oxidation reducing methods, and integrated circuits formed thereby
CN109141208A (zh) * 2018-10-29 2019-01-04 中国船舶重工集团公司第七0七研究所 一种高灵敏度和高线性度的传感器
CN109186439A (zh) * 2018-10-29 2019-01-11 中国船舶重工集团公司第七0七研究所 一种传感器用高稳定、高可靠、低损耗骨架构件
WO2020173909A1 (en) 2019-02-26 2020-09-03 Umicore Ag & Co. Kg Catalyst materials comprising nanoparticles on a carrier and methods for their production

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA961308A (en) 1975-01-21
GB1386157A (en) 1975-03-05
DE2218460A1 (de) 1972-10-26
DE2218460C3 (de) 1974-10-17
DE2218460B2 (de) 1974-03-21
JPS5138439B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1976-10-21

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