Study on New Types of Environmental Protection AgSnO₂ Electrical Contact Materials

Abstract:

AgSnO₂ contact materials have begun to replace toxic AgCdO materials in switching devices such as contactors and circuit breakers since 1970s [1,, which is partly due to the fact that AgSnO₂ materials have shown higher service lives, better welding resistance and less arc erosion in contactors of larger size [. Furthermore, the growing awareness of environmental problems makes it desirable to replace AgCdO contact materials [. However, these materials suffer from an inadequate welding behavior compared with AgCdO [. It was observed that AgSnO₂ made by traditional metallurgical process exhibited high overtemperatures attributed to high contact resistance caused by surface layers of accumulated SnO₂, which was due to the poor wettability of SnO₂ grains in the silver melt in combination with their high thermal stability [6,7]. Another important point was the large size and high hardness of SnO₂ particle prepared by traditional process, which reduced the workability of AgSnO₂ contact materials [8]. In this work, the authors prepared Ti⁴⁺-doped SnO₂ using sol-gel technique and investigated the microstructure, size, distribution and crystallization of Ti⁴⁺-doped tin oxide grains as well as the doping effects on the electrical conductivity of these materials.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 815)
• Pages: 400-403
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.815.400
• Online since: October 2013
• Authors: Ji Zheng, Fei Jiang, Song Lin Li
• Keywords: AgSnO_2., Electric Conductivity, Environmental Protection, Sol-Gel Process

References

[1] Yasuyoshi Saito, Hisaaki Takao, Toshihiko Tani, Nature 432 (2004) 84-85.

[2] Chi Leung, Eric Streicher, Dennis Fitzgerald, Proceedings of the 50TH IEEE Holm conference on electrical contacts and the 22ND international conference on electrical contacts (2004) 64-68.

DOI: 10.1109/holm.2004.1353096

[3] C.M.L. Wu, D.Q. Yu, C.M.T. Law, L. Wang. Mater. Sci. Eng. R 44 (2004) 1-22.

[4] Woojin Choi, Reliability of Pb-free solders in Electronic Packaging Technology University of California, Los Angeles (2002) 16-17, Dissertation for PHD.

[5] Zhang Yaoqing, Zheng Ji, Mater Rev. 20(4) 2006, 53-54.

[6] Jingqin Wang, Baozhu Wang, Ming Wen, Study on the behavior of silver rare earth oxide contact material Proceedings of the 46TH IEEE Holm conference on electrical contacts (2000) 231-234.

DOI: 10.1109/holm.2000.889935

[7] D.Q. Yu, J. Zhao, L. Wang, J. Alloy. Compd. 376 (2004) 170-175.

[8] Yasuo Kanazawa, Masaharu Kamitani, J. Alloy. Compd. 408-412 (2006), 1339-1343.