Electrical resistance change of automotive connectors submitted to vibrations and temperature

For automotive applications, the stability of the supplied electric power depends of the change of electrical resistance. For the case of automotive connectors, an electrical current goes through the connector wire and can be perturbed by the mechanical behaviour of the connector contact area under vibrations and temperature. Such vibrations on the bulk contact device are typically in the range of 10 Hz-2000 Hz and result in displacements of only a few microns at the contact interface. In the present study, a bench test has been developed to control motions down to 1μm. The objective is to determine the minimum amplitude for fretting-corrosion degradation based on the evolution of contact resistance and to study the effects of the temperature. It was found that the fretting degradation depends on vibration displacements, used materials, loading and applied temperature.