Pressure-Wear Theory for Sliding Electrical Contacts

The concept of wear-dependent contact phenomena is developed for sliding electrical contacts, where geometric constraints on wear directly influence contact pressure distribution under the face of a brush. In terms of general contact theory, this pressure distribution is related to the number of contacting asperities, the true area of each contact, or the frequency of asperity encounters. The concept is proposed as a potential new tool to be used in the formulation of a descriptive analytical model of the brush interface. Analytical relationships are developed for friction, wear, and electrical contact resistance for composite and other multicomponent brush configurations.