The development of silver-based cadmium-free contact materials

A procedure is described that allows contact material compositions to be developed by a systematic progression through several levels of component evaluations and selections based on electrical test results. The testing and selection methodology is designed to develop the best contact material composition while also evaluating how changes in composition can be expected to alter the contact performance of the family of materials being evaluated. Specifically, the procedure is described for the development of cadmium-free contact materials. The cadmium-free material developed is shown to exhibit superior weld resistance and lower erosion weight loss relative to a good high-density P/M silver-cadmium oxide material.<>