Effect of Oxide Additives on the Creep Resistance of Ag-SnO2 Contact Materials

Abstract:

To investigate the effect of oxide additives on the creep resistance of Ag based electrical contact materials, Ag-SnO2 contact materials with CuO, WO3 and In2O3 were prepared by powder metallurgy. The creep tests were performed on the tensile specimen at room temperature, and the creep characteristic curves and related parameters were obtained. The creep constitutive equation of the Ag-SnO2 contact materials was constructed. The fracture morphology was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The creep behavior was further simulated by ABAQUS finite element software. The results showed that oxide additives can significantly enhanced the creep resistance of the Ag-SnO2 electrical contact materials due to the improvement of interfacial strength, especially CuO additive has the best effect. It is showed that the simulation results were basically consistent with the experimental data and the error was less than 3 percent. The obtained results are of great reference value for predicting the creep behavior of Ag-based contact material and improving the mechanical properties.