Safe levels of silicone contamination for electrical contact

Author

Tamai, Terutaka ; Aramata, Mikio

Author_Institution

Electron. Inst., Hyogo Univ. of Teacher Educ., Japan

fYear

1993

fDate

27-29 Sep 1993

Firstpage

269

Lastpage

273

Abstract

The effect of silicone vapour concentration on the contact failure was examined by using micro relays and motor brush-slip ring (commutator) contacts. A minimum limiting concentration level which does not affect contact reliability was found. This limiting level was 10 ppm (0.13 mg/1). Validity of the limiting level was confirmed by the relationships among concentration, temperature, SiO₂ film thickness and contact resistance. Furthermore, the effect of the degree of silicone polymerization on the limiting concentration was derived by an empirical formula. These results were confirmed by the contact failure data due to the silicone contamination

Keywords

commutators; contact resistance; electrical contacts; environmental degradation; environmental testing; failure analysis; impurities; polymerisation; relays; reliability; silicones; surface contamination; SiO₂; SiO₂ film thickness; commutator contacts; contact failure; contact reliability; contact resistance; electrical contact; micro relays; minimum limiting concentration level; motor brush-slip ring contacts; safe levels; silicone contamination; silicone polymerization; silicone vapour concentration; temperature; Atmosphere; Chemicals; Contact resistance; Micromotors; Microrelays; Polymers; Resistance heating; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Contacts, 1993., Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth IEEE Holm Conference on

Conference_Location

Pittsburgh, PA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1270-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOLM.1993.489686

Filename

489686