Comparison of the switching behaviour of electrodeposited silver and silver-cadmium alloys contact materials

The quality of contact materials depends on their physical properties, such as density, hardness and conductivity, as well as on their contact characteristics (contact resistance, weldability and erosion). An instrumentation system is described here, which measures the most important attributes of contact materials simultaneously. The measurements are taken under simulated service conditions. The rated electrical current is passed through contacts of reference and test materials in a relay controlled by an electronic module; the contact resistance, weldability and are erosion are monitored. In this system two pairs of contact elements - one pair made of the test material, and the other made of reference material are compared. The relay is an actual electrical device wich would use the test material as its contact elements in normal operation. The test material is silver-cadmium alloy electrodeposited from an iodide bath; and the reference material is electrodeposited silver from a cyanide bath.