Study on the failure mechanism of Ag-Ce contacts in DC level

Abstract

Nominal contact resistance, minimum erosion and material transfer are required with low cost materials working in a wide currents range for DC relays. Ag-Ni contact materials have low contact resistance, but the erosion and material transfer are large at high current level. Ag-SnO2 contact materials have good anti-welding properties and resistance to arc erosion, but they have large contact resistance during working and are easily block SnO2 from flocking together on the surface at low current level. In this paper, the failure mechanisms of Ag-Ce contact material were studied. The surface morphologies of the contacts after electrical endurance test for Ag-Ce contact material were compared with that of Ag-Ni and Ag-SnO2 contact materials. The effect of Ce on the surface morphologies of the contacts after electrical endurance test was analyzed.