Abstract
Tungsten copper and molybdenum copper composites, with weight percent copper in the range of 20% - 40%, have been produced using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Other specimens having similar compositions were also developed using the conventional techniques of Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) and Infiltration. Electrical conductivity measurements showed that the specimens produced by the SPS process had substantially higher levels of electrical conductivity than those produced by the other methods. Relative density measurements showed that the SPS specimens achieved very high densification, with relative densities in the range of 99.1% - 100%. On the other hand, the specimens produced by LPS and infiltration had relative densities in the range of 88% - 92% and 96% - 98% respectively. The superior conductivity of the SPS specimens has been attributed to the virtually full densification achieved by the process. The effect of porosity on electrical conductivity has been discussed and three standard models were assessed using results from porous sintered skeletons of pure tungsten and pure molybdenum.
Highlights
Electrical contacts are generally made from metals of high electrical conductivity such as alloys of silver, copper, gold, platinum and palladium
This paper presents results of a comparative study on the electrical conductivity of Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS), Infiltration, and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)-produced sintered compacts for electrical contact applications
Relative density test results showed that the relative densities of specimens produced by Liquid Phase Sintering ranged from 90% - 92% for W-Cu compacts with composition in the 20 wt% Cu to 40 wt% Cu range, and 88% to 90% for Mo-Cu compacts with copper in the same composition range
Summary
Electrical contacts are generally made from metals of high electrical conductivity such as alloys of silver, copper, gold, platinum and palladium. The basic properties required from such contact materials are good electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, hardness, and fairly good resistance to mechanical wear. For some industrial applications such as high-power equipment brushes, there is a need for a substantially high hardness and high resistance to abrasive wear. Refractory based electrical contacts are required for such applications
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