Application of Ultrasonic Testing Technology to Fretting Wear Detection of Electrical Connectors

Abstract

An ultrasonic testing method was used to detect the fretting wear behavior of electrical connectors. The specimens used in this study were contacts of type-M round two-pin electrical connectors. The experiments consisted of running a series of vibration tests at different combined stress levels of frequencies and accelerations. During each experiment, through an electrical connector fretting wear ultrasonic detection device, the energy attenuation of ultrasound was monitored as a characteristic parameter, which is induced by the wear debris generated by the fretting wear of electrical connectors. The results show that vibration frequency, vibration acceleration, and vibration cycles all have a positive cumulative effect on debris generation on the contact surface of contacts. There is more debris accumulated in the root area of contact pins. The fretting surface is examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analysis to assess the surface profile, the extent of fretting damage, and elemental distribution across the contact zone, and the observed results are basically consistent with the ultrasonic test results.