Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Extended Aging of Ag/W Circuit Breaker Contacts: Influence on Surface Structure, Electrical Properties, and UL Testing Performance

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Samples of 120 V, 30 A commercial circuit breakers were subjected to various aging treatments and the resulting microstructures at the surfaces of the Ag/W contacts were studied using a combination of x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy techniques. Breakers aged naturally in a hot, humid climate were compared to those subjected to accelerated aging in dry and humid environments. The most extensive oxidation was observed for contacts from breakers subjected to accelerated humid aging; these contacts exhibited thick surface layers consisting of Ag2O, Ag2WO4, Cu(OH)2∙H2O, and WO3 phases. Far less surface degradation was observed for dry-aged contacts. Naturally aged contacts showed variations in degradation with more oxidation at the surface regions outside the physical contact area on the contact face. A correlation was found between the contact resistances measured from these samples following ASTM standard B 667-97 and the observed surface microstructures. To evaluate the effects of the surface oxides on breaker performance, humid-aged breakers were subjected to standardized UL overload/temperature-rise, endurance, and short-circuit testing following UL489. The contacts in these breakers exhibit similar microstructural and property changes to those observed previously for as-manufactured contacts after UL testing. These data illustrate the robust performance of this contact technology even after being subjected to aggressive artificial aging.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J.J. Shea, Erosion and Resistance Characteristics of AgW and AgC Contacts, IEEE Trans. Compon. Packag. Technol., 1999, 22(2), p 331–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. F. Findik and H. Uzun, Microstructure, Hardness and Electrical Properties of Silver-Based Refractory Contact Materials, Mater. Des., 2003, 24(7), p 489–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. C.-H. Leung and P.C. Wingert, Microstructure Effects on Dynamic Welding of Ag/W Contacts, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1988, 11(1), p 64–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. C.-H. Leung, P.C. Wingert, and H.J. Kim, Comparison of Reignition Properties of Several Ag/W, Ag/WC, and Ag/Mo Electrical Contact Materials, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1986, 9(1), p 86–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. P.V. Minakova, M.L. Grekova, A.P. Kresanov, and L.A. Kryachko, Composites for Contacts and Electrodes (A Review), Powder Metall. Met. Ceram., 1995, 34(7–8), p 370–385

    Google Scholar 

  6. P.G. Slade, Variations in Contact Resistance Resulting from Oxide Formation and Decomposition in Ag-W and Ag-WC-C Contacts Passing Steady Currents for Long Time Periods, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1986, 9(1), p 3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. C.-H. Leung and H.J. Kim, A Comparison of Ag/W, Ag/WC, and Ag/Mo Electrical Contacts, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1984, 7(1), p 69–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. H. Yu, Y. Sun, M.T. Kesim, J. Harmon, J. Potter, S.P. Alpay, and M. Aindow, Surface Degradation of Ag/W Circuit Breaker Contacts During Standardized UL Testing, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 2015, 24(9), p 3251–3262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. P.G. Slade, Effect of the Electric Arc and the Ambient Air on the Contact Resistance of Silver, Tungsten, and Silver-Tungsten Contacts, J. Appl. Phys., 1976, 47(8), p 3438–3443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. R. Michal and K.E. Saeger, Application of Silver-Based Contact Materials in Air-Break Switching Devices for Power Engineering, Proceedings of the 34th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, September 26–29, 1988, p 121–127

  11. P.C. Wingert, The Detection and Effects of Oxide Layers on Silver-Refractory Contact Surfaces, Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, October 20–22, 1997, p 104–114

  12. P.G. Slade, Y.K. Chien, and J.A. Bindas, Switching Performance of AgW-Ag(Sn, In)O and AgW-AgSnO2 Contact Pairs, Proceedings of the 35th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, September 18–20, 1989, p 53–67

  13. C.-H. Leung, E. Streicher, and D. Fitzgerald, Weibull Analysis of Switching Contact Resistance in Laboratory and Commercial Circuit Breakers, Proceedings of the 53rd IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, September 16–19, 2007, p 56–62

  14. P.G. Slade, The Switching Performance of Refractory Carbide-Silver Contacts, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1979, 2(1), p 127–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. P.G. Slade and J.A. Bindas, Contact Resistance Variations of Tungsten Contacts Operated in Air and Silver-Tungsten Carbide Contacts Operated in Vacuum, Proceedings of the 36th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts and the 15th International Conference on Electrical Contacts, August 20–24, 1990, p 530–537

  16. P. Borkowski, E. Walczuk, K. Frydman, and D. Wojcik-Grzybek, Switching Properties of Contacts Made of Silver-Tungsten and Silver-Tungsten-Rhenium Composite Materials, Proceedings of the 59th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, September 22–25, 2013, p 1–10

  17. M. Lindmayer and M. Roth, Contact Resistance and Arc Erosion of W/Ag and WC/Ag, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1979, 2(1), p 70–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Standard for Safety, Molded-Case Circuit Breakers, Molded-Case Switches, and Circuit-Breaker Enclosures, ANSI/UL Standard 489, 1996

  19. Z. Aslanoglu, Y. Karakaş, M.L. Öveçoglu, and B. Özkal, Effects of Nickel Addition on Properties of Ag-W Electrical Contact Materials, Powder Metall., 2001, 44(1), p 77–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. G.J. Witter and W.R. Warke, A Correlation of Material Toughness, Thermal Shock Resistance, and Microstructure of High Tungsten, Silver-Tungsten Composite Materials, IEEE Trans. Parts Hybrids Packag., 1975, 11(1), p 21–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. C.W. Corti, Sintering Aids in Powder Metallurgy, Platin. Met. Rev., 1986, 30(4), p 184–195

    Google Scholar 

  22. H. Yu, Y. Sun, S.P. Alpay, and M. Aindow, Microstructure Effects in Braze Joints Formed Between Ag/W Electrical Contacts and Sn-Coated Cu using Cu-Ag-P Filler Metal, J. Mater. Sci., 2015, 50(1), p 324–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Standard Practice for Construction and Use of a Probe for Measuring Electrical Contact Resistance, ASTM Standard B 667-97, 2009

  24. J. Shea and J.A. Bindas, Measuring Molded Case Circuit Breaker Resistance, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1993, 16(2), p 196–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Y. Cudennec, A. Lecerf, A. Riou, and Y. Gerault, Synthesis and Study of Copper Ammine Hydroxide and Copper Hydroxide, Hydrates, Eur. J. Solid. State Inorg. Chem., 1990, 27, p 411–420

    Google Scholar 

  26. R. Diehl, G. Brandt, and E. Salje, The Crystal Structure of Triclinic WO3, Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B, 1978, 34, p 1105–1111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. P.M. Skarstad and S. Geller (W4O16)8– Polyion in the High Temperature Modification of Silver Tungstate, Mater. Res. Bull., 1975, 10(8), p 791–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. B.M. Gatehouse and P. Leverett, Crystal Structures of Silver Dimolybdate, Ag2Mo2O7, and Silver Ditungstate, Ag2W2O7, J. Chem. Soc. Dalton, 1976, 5, p 1316–1320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. S.S. Kabalkina, S.V. Popova, N.R. Serebryanaya, and L.F. Vereshchagin, A New Modification of Ag2O with Layered Structure, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1963, 152, p 853–854

    Google Scholar 

  30. M. Antler, Survey of Contact Fretting in Electrical Connectors, IEEE Trans. Compon. Hybrids Manuf. Technol., 1985, 8(1), p 87–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. A. Beloufa, Conduction Degradation by Fretting Corrosion Phenomena for Contact Samples Made of High-Copper Alloys, Tribol. Int., 2010, 43(11), p 2110–2119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. I.H. Brockman, C.S. Sieber, and R.S. Mroczkowski, A Limited Study of the Effects of Contact Normal Force, Contact Geometry and Wipe Distance on the Contact Resistance of Gold-Plated Contacts, Proceedings of the 38th Electronics Components Conference, May 9–11, 1988, p 198–207

  33. P.C. Wingert, The Effects of Nickel on the Switching Performance of Silver-Tungsten-Based Contacts, Proceedings of the 39th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, September 27–29, 1993, p 111–115

  34. J.J. Shea, Polymeric Arc Chamber Walls Influence on AGW/AGC Contact Resistance, IEEE Trans. Compon. Packag. Technol., 2000, 23(2), p 205–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. N. Kaneki, H. Hara, K. Shimada, and T. Shimizu, Effect of Atmosphere on Resistivity of WO3 Ceramics, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 1976, 59(7–8), p 368–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Y. Abe, T. Hasegawa, M. Kawamura, and K. Sasaki, Characterization of Ag Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Reactive RF Sputtering, Vacuum, 2004, 76(1), p 1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. A. Sreedevi, K.P. Priyanka, S.R. Mary, E.M. Mohammed, and T. Varghese, Nanophase α-Silver Tungstate for Potential Applications in Light Emitting Diodes and Gate Dielectrics, Adv. Sci. Eng. Med., 2015, 7(6), p 498–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from GE Energy Management—Industrial Solutions under a GE-UConn partnership agreement—and by the award of GE Graduate Fellowships to Haibo Yu and M. Tumerkan Kesim.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-3136, USA

    Haibo Yu, M. Tumerkan Kesim, Yu Sun, S. Pamir Alpay & Mark Aindow

  2. GE Energy Management - Industrial Solutions, Plainville, CT, 06062, USA

    Jason Harmon & Jonathan Potter

Authors
  1. Haibo Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Tumerkan Kesim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yu Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jason Harmon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jonathan Potter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S. Pamir Alpay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Mark Aindow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Aindow.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, H., Kesim, M.T., Sun, Y. et al. Extended Aging of Ag/W Circuit Breaker Contacts: Influence on Surface Structure, Electrical Properties, and UL Testing Performance. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 25, 91–101 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-015-1837-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-015-1837-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation