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- Title
The effect of lubrication and thermal storage on the fretting behavior of electrical contacts.
- Authors
Haomiao Yuan; Jian Song
- Abstract
With the development of cyber-physical systems, a large number of electrical connectors are used to transfer currents and signals between terminals. The electrical contact is the critical area in the electrical connector. The performance and the lifetime of the electrical contacts greatly influence system reliability. In order to improve the performance and reliability of electrical contacts, plating is generally used. Tin plating is widely used due to good solderability, corrosion resistance and low cost. However, tin plating is prone to fretting corrosion and consequently the lifetime of electrical contacts, with conventional tin surfaces, is relatively short, if micromotion is unavoidable. Some lubricants can be used to form a protective layer to separate the electrical contacts from oxygen, which can improve the performance of the tin plating. As a consequence, the lifetime of the tin-plated electrical contacts can be prolonged. However, not all the lubricants are sufficiently thermally stable for connector applications. In this paper, two kinds of lubricants, namely PFPE oil and perfluorinated oil-based grease, are applied on the tin plating. The development of electrical contact resistance and the lifetime of electrical contacts are measured by a fretting corrosion test device and compared to the results from unlubricated samples. The effect of the two lubricants on the lifetime is stud ied. Moreover, the thermal degradation of the electrical contacts with lubricants is also investigated using fretting corrosion tests, after storing these contacts at an elevated temperature. With the application of the lubricants, a large improvement in the lifetime of the tin-plated electrical contacts is achieved.
- Subjects
LUBRICATION &; lubricants; HEAT storage; PLATING; CORROSION &; anti-corrosives; FRETTING corrosion
- Publication
Tribologie und Schmierungstechnik, 2020, Vol 67, Issue 5/6, p14
- ISSN
0724-3472
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.30419/TuS-2020-0024