IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS,HYBRIDS, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY,VOL. 15, NO.

2, APRIL 1992 177

Significant Increase of Contact Resistance of

Silver Contacts by Mechanical Switching Actions
Makoto Hasegawa, Takeshi Yamamoto, and Koichiro Sawa

Abstract- When Ag contacts were operated in mechanical

break-make actions without switching load current in air (labo-
ratory atmosphere), contact resistance increased significantly on load alrrent
antml unit
about three quarters of the test samples. No contaminantproducts
were detected in the contact area with A E S analysis. However,
SEM observation revealed an interesting relationshipbetween the measurement
contact resistance characteristicand the contact surface condition
as follows. The samples on which contact resistance increased
had a mimr-like plain contact surface, while those with low
and stable contact resistance had a rough surface which looked
severely damaged by mechanical actions. The contact resistance
characteristic was also found to be influenced by measuring
current levels and contact force levels. With these experimental
results, a possible hypothetical mechanism for the phenomenon
was discussed, in considering the influence of wear types of the
electrode surface.

I. INTRODUC~ON

E LECTROMECHANICAL components which contain

electrical contacts have been widely used in various areas
of modern technology. Recently, they are more likely to be
used with light duty electrical load. Further studies about
contact phenomena in this load region are required in order
to achieve better reliability and longer life of the components.
In this case, chemical interaction between electrode sur- tested a n t a c t s
antrul unit
faces and ambient gases caused by mechanical actions be-
comes an important factor to determine contact reliability.
For example, the brown powder phenomenon on platinum Fig. 1. Main circuit (for one pair of the tested contacts) of the system.
group metal contacts in organic atmosphere [l], [2], and
the fretting corrosion on base metals [3], [4] are both well mechanical break-make actions in air (laboratory atmos-
known for inducing serious deterioration of contact resistance. phere). This is quite an unfamiliar phenomenon, which is to
On the other hand, the authors have reported that palla- be studied further for achievement of high contact reliability
dium oxides are formed through mechanochemical reaction in a light duty load region.
on Pd, Ag-Pd70%, and Ag-PdSO% alloy contacts operated The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the
in mechanical break-make actions in air, and they cause a phenomenon. Here, experimental results are explained, and
remarkable increase of contact resistance [5]- [7]. a possible hypothetical mechanism for it is discussed.
Silver is generally believed to be one of the most stable
materials in both fretting and catalytic reaction, while it is
vulnerable to corrosive atmosphere [4]. However, the authors 11. EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE
have found that a significant increase of contact resistance
occurs on Ag contacts when they are operated in continuous A. Automatic Data Acquisition System of Contact Resistance
Manuscript received October 7, 1991; revised December 20, 1991. This The same experimental apparatus as used in the previous
paper was presented at the 37th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, studies [6], [7] was again used. Fig. 1 shows the main circuit
Chicago, IL, October 7-9, 1991. of the system. The experiments described in this paper were
M. Hasegawa was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Keio
University, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan. He is now with the Central performed without electrical load and only the measuring
Research and Development Laboratory, OMRON Corporation, Nagaoka-kyo circuit was used. The value of measuring current was changed
City, Kyoto, 617 Japan. by adjusting output voltage of the power supply. The system
T. Yamamoto and K. Sawa are with the Department of Electrical Engineer-
ing, Keio University, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223 Japan. has the same ten circuits as shown in Fig. 1, therefore, ten
IEEE Log Number 9106585. pairs of contacts were tested simultaneously.
0 1 4 ~ 1 1 / 9 2 $ 0 3 . 0 00 1992 IEEE
~
178 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, HYBRIDS, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY. VOL. 15, NO. 2 , APRIL 1992
(b)
Fig. 2. Automatic data acquisition system. (a) A whole view of the system.
(b) A close-up view of the front face.
The whole operation of the system, including the
measurement, was controlled by a 16-b personal computer.
Contact voltage drops were automatically measured by a
digital voltmeter (DVM) connected with the computer through
GP-IB. The data were recorded on a floppy disk. After each
test ended, they were converted into contact resistance and
statistically analyzed.
Fig. 2(a) shows a whole view of the system and Fig. 2(b)
shows the close up view of the front face. Test contacts, about
4 mm in diameter and 1 mm in height, were set on disclosure-
type relays. Contact surfaces were exposed to air (laboratory
atmosphere), as seen in Fig. 2(b).
B. Experimental Procedure
Experimental conditions are shown in Table I. The measure-
ment of contact voltage drops was done every 10 actions in
the following sequence.
At 0.5 s after every 10th action, measuring current began to
flow. At 0.5 s after that, the reed relays closed and the DVM
TABLE I
EXPERIMENTAL
CONDITIONS.
contact material silver
the number of samples 20 for each condition
electrical load none
frequency 1 Hr (duty 50%)
temperature 20- 25’ C
humidity 30-6096 RH
contact force 0.4-0.5 N
measuring current dc 0.1 A (1 V)-1.0 A (10 V)
was connected, and contact voltage drops were measured in
turn from contact No. 1 another 0.5 s later. Immediately after
all the measurements ended, measuring current was stopped
and the next action began 0.5 s later.
In the study, the measuring current of a relatively large level
was applied, and surface properties could be influenced in such
a case. For example, the destruction of surface films by current
flow might occur, which would affect the contact resistance
characteristic. In that sense, the measurement in these experi-
ments was not performed in a dry circuit condition. However,
the purpose of this paper was to obtain information on and
discuss the contact phenomena, especially contact resistance
characteristics, in the current range where electrical contacts
were practically used. Therefore, the discussion based on the
experimental results measured through the above procedure
was carried on.
The surface treatment before each experiment was as fol-
lows. The surfaces of test contacts were polished with fine
sandpaper (#1200), wiped with methyl alcohol, and then
washed by ultrasonic wave in distilled water for about 15 min.
The mean surface roughness after the treatments was about
0.1 pm.
111. EXPERIMENTAL
RESULTS
A. Increase of Contact Resistance Caused by Mechanical Actions
Typical measured data of contact resistance with a measur-
ing current of dc 1.0 A (10 V) are shown in Fig. 3. A change
of contact resistance through 100 000 break-make actions is
divided into 5 figures, each of which is for the period of
20 000 actions. The maximum, the minimum, and the average
of the measured data for every 500 actions are indicated in
the figures.
Two characteristics in Fig. 3 show a significant contrast, and
all the measured characteristics can be classified into these two
groups. The first group is the “stable” group which maintained
low and stable contact resistance through the whole operation,
as shown in Fig. 3(a). The other is the “unstable” group.
Contact resistance of the samples in this group, which was
less than 10 mR at the beginning of the test, increased rapidly
with showing instability, and then stabilized around 100 mR.
B. Influence of Measuring Current Levels on Contact
Resistance Characteristic
The fact that significant deterioration of contact resistance
can be found even with a large current of dc 1.0 A is
interesting. Also it will be useful to know if the same result
HASEGAWA et al.: INCREASE OF CONTACT RESISTANCE OF SILVER CONTACTS 119

I
mv
% t I
.l---
I

.
W
U

m
VI
U
.r
W
VI

I "I ' .r
W
VI

I *I
The number o f a c t i o n s (x103) The number o f a c t i o n s (x103)

(4 (b)
Fig. 3. Contact resistance characteristicsmeasured with dc 1.0 A. (a) Sample
with stable contact resistance. (b) Sample with unstable contact resistance.

is obtained with a small current level. In order to study this

point, some experiments were performed and the results are
described in the following.
Contact resistance characteristics measured with current of
dc 0.1 A (1.0 V) were also classified into the two groups
according to the same aspect as the previous case with
measuring current of dc 1.0 A. Fig. 4 shows an example of
the typical measured contact resistance characteristic of the
"unstable" group. Contact resistance increases and fluctuates
in wide range. In this particular example, the maximum of the
measured values is beyond 1.4 s2.
In order to make the influence of measuring current levels
on the contact resistance characteristic clearer, the experiments
with measuring current of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.8 A were performed.
Twenty samples were measured for each of these current
values. Among them, the samples which showed unstable
contact resistance were picked up and the average of their
measured data was calculated for every 5000 actions at each
current level. The results are shown in Fig. 5.
Increase of contact resistance can be clearly recognized for
all the current levels in the first half of the operation. Then, the
plots, except those with measuring current of dc 0.1 A, begin
to stabilize at a specific level according to current values.
This means that the nonlinearity appeared in the contact
resistance characteristic. In general, the dependence of contact
resistance on measuring current levels is caused by the destruc-
tion of contaminant layers on the contact surface. Therefore,
I
IN
I
m . ) I o YI ,ea
I
The number o f a c t i o n s ( x 103 1
Fig. 4. Contact resistance characteristic measured with dc 0.1 A.
the result in Fig. 5 may suggest possible existence of some
surface contaminants which are related to the increase of
contact resistance reported here.
On the other hand, Table I1 shows the occurrence rate of the
increase of contact resistance. It tells that the current levels did
not influence occurrence of the phenomenon itself.
C. Necessity of Mechanical Actions on Increase
of Contact Resistance
Fig. 6 shows an example of the measured contact resistance
in the experiment where only the measurement was done in the
same procedure without any mechanical break-make actions.
The data were collected with measuring current of dc 0.1 A
during the time period equivalent to 80 000 actions.
All of the ten samples measured in the experiment showed
no increase or instability of contact resistance, as shown in the
figure. Therefore, it is clear that mechanical switching actions
are essential to the increase of contact resistance mentioned in
the previous sections.
 I

180 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS,HYBRIDS, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY,VOL. 15, NO. 2, APRIL 1992

0
oo
0.1 A
I
0
0

U
a,
m
c,
ln
200 -
.r
aJ
ln

c,
150-
m
U
Y
c
0
100-

A *
50- 0 0
c,

Bo
- .-I
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01 ’ ’ . 1 ’ . “ “ I 0
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I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IO
The number o f actions ( x 104 )

.
i1 1
Fig. 5. Influence of measuring current levels on contact resistance
characteristics.

TABLE I1

Measuring
OCCURRENCE RATE OF THE PHENOMENON
::j
I
*
current (A) 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.0 (. s n n .
I

Occurrence The number o f operations ( x lo3 )

rate (%) 65 85 75
D.Analysis of Contact Surface
In order to investigate the mechanism of the phenomenon,
the electrode surfaces were analyzed with SEM and AES after
100 000 mechanical actions.
Qpical SEM photos of the stationary electrode surfaces
are shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7(a) is a contact surface of the
sample with “stable” contact resistance and Fig. 7(b) is one
with “increased and unstable” characteristic. An obvious and
interesting difference is recognized between them.
When a sample showed stable contact resistance, the surface
of its contact area got rough and bumpy, as shown in Fig. 7(a).
On the contrary, the sample with increased and unstable
contact resistance had a mirror-like plain contact surface, as
seen in Fig. 7@). The area looks completely different from the
surrounding surface where the trace of sandpaper treatment
remains.
Fig. 8 shows examples of the surface roughness curve over
the contact area after 100 OOO mechanical actions. Each curve
in the figure represents the two groups, respectively, and the
contrast between them is clearly recognized.
From the above, it can be said that there is an interesting
relationship between the tendency of the contact resistance
characteristic (whether it increases or remains low and stable)
and the contact surface condition (whether it is plain or rough).
This relationship always existed without any exception for all
the samples in the experiments in this paper, irrespective of
75 75
Fig. 6. Contact resistance characteristic without mechanical actions
(Zm = 0.1 A ) .
the difference of measuring current level or of contact force
level mentioned later.
On the other hand, AES analysis of the contact area was
also performed and the results are shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 9(a)
is the spectrum from the sample of the “stable” group, and
Fig. 9(b) is for the “unstable” group. Unfortunately, both have
only three clear peaks of silver and no significant difference
between the two spectrums is recognized. Also, no signals
of contaminant products which can explain the increase of
contact resistance are detected.
IV. DISCUSSION
Increase of contact resistance described in the previous
sections is clearly related to mechanical break-make actions.
From that point of view, it can be said that this may be the
same kind of phenomenon as the brown powder formation
or the fretting corrosion. The difference is that no powdery
products which apparently cause the phenomenon can be
recognized or detected in the contact area in this unfamiliar
case.
However, the dependence of contact resistance on measur-
ing current levels was found, as shown in Fig. 5. This feature is
generally related to the destruction of surface contaminant lay-
ers by current flow. Therefore, there is a possibility that some
HASEGAWA et al.: INCREASE OF CONTACT RESISTANCE OF SILVER CONTACTS 181

200 400 600

k i n e t i c energy ( eV )

(b) Fig. 9. The results of AES analysii of contact area after 100 000 mechanical
Fig. 7. SEM photos of the contact surfaces after 100 000 mechanical actions action\. (a) Sample with stable contact resistance. (b) Sample with unstable
( x 100). (a) Sample with stable contact resistance. (b) Sample with unstable contact resistance.
contact resistance.
TABLE 111
WEAR TYPESAND THEIRCHARACTERISTICS

J \ /-
- wear type severe wear mild wear

influence of
I mechanical this type of wear occurs with
load level large C F small CF
contact resistance low and stable high and unstable
wear particle large metallic debris fine powder of
metal oxides
contact area rough plain

Fig. 8. Surface roughness curves of contact areas after 100 000 mechanical
actions. (a) Sample with stable contact resistance. (b) Sample with unstable
contact resistance.
kinds of surface products are produced through mechanical
actions to influence contact resistance.
The interesting point about the phenomenon is the rela-
tionship between the contact resistance characteristic and the
contact surface condition. This also brings us to consider an
influence of wear types of metal surfaces on the phenomenon,
as a possible hypothetical mechanism.
It can be said that wear of metals is classified into two
types, severe wear and mild wear. They show a clear contrast
of characteristics in some points, as described in Table I11 [8].
The table shows that severe wear is characterized by low
contact resistance and a rough contact area. On the contrary,
mild wear has high contact resistance and a plain contact
surface. These features of each wear type interestingly coincide
with the previously mentioned relationship between the contact
resistance characteristic and the contact surface condition on
mechanically operated Ag contacts.
On the other hand, Sasada has reported on the experimental
results about the transition of wear types by using a pin versus
disk type sliding test apparatus [9], [lo].
During the “initial stage” of the sliding test, severe wear
with high wear rate occurred and the cumulative amount of
wear particles increased rapidly. After a certain sliding period
(a certain times of repetition), the transition into mild wear
occurred. This transition was characterized by the change of
wear rate. Consequently, the contact resistance characteristic,
the property of wear particles, and the contact surface condi-
tion were influenced. The necessity of oxygen adsorption onto
the metal surface for the occurrence of the transition was also
pointed out.
Upon examining the experimental results from the above
points of view, the following hypothetical mechanism can be
suggested for the increase of contact resistance on mechani-
cally operated Ag contacts.

182 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS,HYBRIDS, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15, NO. 2, APRIL 1992
Contactforce
0 0.2 - 0.3 N
0.4 - 0.5 N
0 0.2 - 0.3 N
0.4 - 0.5 N
I”
1 2 3 L 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 and further experiments are urgently required.
The number o f actions ( x 104 1
Fig. 10. Influence of contact force on contact resistance characteristic.
During the initial stage of mechanical break-make actions,
severe wear occurs on each sample. After a certain period of
operation, the transition into mild wear occurs on some sam-
ples. The transition triggers the increase of contact resistance
and the change of the contact surface condition.
Concerning the above theory, the 100 000 mechanical ac-
tions tests with a smaller contact force of 0.2-0.3 N were
performed. The results are shown in Fig. 10. Contact resistance
was measured with measuring current of dc 0.1 and 1.0 A.
Each plot in the figure indicates the average value of all
the measured data for 5000 actions for each experimental
condition.
Influence of contact force levels can be recognized clearly
on the results with a smaller measuring current as follows.
With a smaller contact force, contact resistance increased in
an earlier stage of the operation than that with a larger contact
force, and then stabilized at a certain level. The same tendency
of rapid increase of contact resistance with smaller contact
force was also observed in the results with a measuring current
of dc 1.0 A.
Also, since the important role of oxygen adsorption onto
the contact surface for the phenomenon has been pointed
out, some experiments in lower atmospheric pressure were
performed. However, they were not successful because of
failing to completely remove the influence of impure ambient
gas molecules which seemed to originate mainly from a rotary
pump and an oil diffusion pump of the vacuum system.
As mentioned in the previous discussion, the contact resis-
tance increase on Ag contacts through mechanical break-make
actions seems to be deeply related to wear phenomena. It can
be suggested that the occurrence of transition from severe wear
into mild wear may trigger the increase of contact resistance.
However, any details of this hypothetical mechanism are still
unclear.
V. CONCLUSIONS
When Ag contacts were operated in mechanical break-make
actions without switching load current in air (laboratory atmos-
I I
phere), an increase of contact resistance occurred on about
three quarters of the test samples. The contact resistance
characteristic was influenced by measuring current levels and
contact force levels. Mechanical actions were found to be
essential to the occurrence of the phenomenon.
No contaminant products were detected on the contact
surfaces with SEM and AES analysis. On the other hand, an
interesting relationship between the contact resistance char-
acteristic and contact surface condition was recognized. The
result of the observation suggests that the occurrence of the
I m
transition from severe wear into mild wear may trigger the
0.1 A increase of contact resistance.
0.1 A However, the details of the mechanism for this phenomenon
1.0 A
1.0 A have not been made clear yet. This paper is a very initial step of
investigation of the unfamiliar characteristic of silver contacts
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are very grateful to Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo
K. K. for preparing the contact materials and also to the Omron
Corporation for preparing the relays.
REFERENCES
[ l ] H. W.Hermance and T. F. Eagan, “Organic deposits on precious metal
contacts,” Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 739-776, May 1958.
[2] H.J. Keefer and R.H. Gumley, “Relay contact behaviour under
non-eroding circuit conditions,” Bell Syst. Tech. J., vol. 37, no. 3,
pp. 777-814, May 1958.
[3] M. Antler and E.S. Sproles, “Effect of fretting on the contact resis-
tance of palladium,” IEEE Trans. Comp., Hybrids, Manuf Technol.,
vol. CHMT-5, pp. 158-166, Mar. 1982.
[4] M. Antler, “Survey of contact fretting in electrical connectors,” IEEE
Trans. Comp., Hybridr, Manuf Technol., vol. CHMT-8, pp. 87- 104,
Mar. 1985.
[5] M. Hasegawa, K. Sawa, and K. Miyachi, “Remarkable increase of
contact resistance by mechanochemical reaction on Pd contacts under
no discharge condition,” in Proc. 14th lnt. Conf on Electric Contacts,
1988, pp. 233-237.
[6] M. Hasegawa and K. Sawa, “Formation of palladium oxides by
mechanochemical reaction on Pd and Ag-Pd alloy contacts,” IEEE
Trans. Comp., Hybrids, Manuf Technol.,vol. 13, pp. 33-39, Mar. 1990.
[7] -, “Influence of contact materials on the formation of palladium
oxides by mechanochemical reaction,” in Proc. 15th lnt. Conf on
Electric Contacts, 1990, pp. 306-314.
[8] J. Halling, Principles of Tribology. Tokyo, Japan: Kindai Kagaku,
translated ed., 1984, pp. 109-111.
[9] T. Sasada, “Fundamental analysis of the “adhesive wear” of met-
als-severe and mild wear-,” in Proc, JSLE Int. Tribology Conf, 1985,
pp. 623-628.
[lo] T. Sasada, K. Hiratsuka, and H. Saito, “Adsorption of surrounding
gas molecules on pure metal surfaces during wear processes,” Wear,
vol. 135, no. 2, pp. 251-264, Feb. 1990.
Makoto Hasegawa received the B.E., M.E., and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Keio
University, Yokohama, Japan, in 1986, 1988, and
1991, respectively.
He has been involved in research on switching
arc phenomena, contact phenomena, and contact re-
liability at Keio University. He is currently working
for the Omron Corporation, Japan.
Dr. Hasegawa is a member of the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of Japan and the Institute of
Electronics, Information, and Communication Engi-
neers of Japan.
 -
HASEGAWA et al.: INCREASE OF CONTACT RESISTANCE OF SILVER CONTACTS 183

Takeshi Yamamoto received the B.E. degree in Koichim Sawa received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D.
electrical engineering from Keio University, Yoko- degrees in electrical engineering from Keio Univer-
hama, Japan, in 1991. He is currently working sity, Yokohama, Japan, in 1964, 1966, and 1982,
toward the master’s degree at Keio University. respectively.
His research interests include electrical contact He is currently an Associate Professor with the
phenomena. Department of Electrical Engineering, Keio Uni-
Mr. Yamamoto is a member of the Institute of versity. His research interests include switching
Electronics, Information, and Communication Engi- arc phenomena, contact phenomena, commutation
neers of Japan. spark in dc machines, and FEM/BEM calculation
of electromagnetic fields.
Dr. Sawa is a member of the Institute of Elec-
trical Engineers of Japan and the Institute of Electronics, Information, and
Communication Engineers of Japan.