Electrical Contact Materials

Electrical contacts are metal devices that make and break electrical circuits. This article describes the property requirements such as electrical conductivity, mechanical properties, chemical properties, fabrication properties, and thermal properties of make-break arcing contacts. The article also focuses on brush contact materials and their interdependence factors for sliding contacts. In addition, the article discusses the properties, manufacturing methods, and applications of electrical contact materials, including wrought materials such as copper metals, silver metals, gold metals, precious metal overlays, tungsten, molybdenum, and aluminum, and composite materials. It concludes by discussing the composite manufacturing methods such as infiltration, press-sinter, press-sinter-repress process, press-sinter-extrude process, internal oxidation, and preoxidized-press-sinter-extrude process, and coprecipitation.