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Effect of preparing method of ZnO powders on electrical arc erosion behavior of Ag/ZnO electrical contact material

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Abstract

Two kinds of Ag/ZnO electrical contact materials were fabricated by powder metallurgy method. The electrical life testing was done to investigate the arc erosion behavior of the prepared contact materials. Their properties and morphologies were characterized and discussed in detail. Results showed that Ag/ZnO(c) with coprecipitated ZnO as the second phase had better mechanical and electrical properties compared with Ag/ZnO(a) with ZnO purchased from Aladdin Industrial, Inc. Besides, some typical morphologies, such as holes, Ag or ZnO enrichment zone, Ag skeletons and bubbling area, occurred on the surface of the contacts. Especially for Ag/ZnO(c), vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays were detected after the life testing without any other supporting equipment. The existence of a solid solution Zn1-xAgxO and different energy generated during arcing process were possible reasons resulting in this phenomenon. A solid-vapor-solid mechanism was put forward to analyze the phenomenon mentioned above. These evidences could also offer some valuable information desired for reducing the splashing of Ag droplet under arcing.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2013AA031803) and Special Fund for Postdoctor of Zhejiang Province, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, 310027, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhijun Wei, Lingjie Zhang & Hui Yang

  2. Zhejiang-California International NanoSystems Institute, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    Lingjie Zhang, Hui Yang & Tao Shen

  3. Wenzhou Hongfeng Electrical Alloy Co. Ltd., Wenzhou, 325603, China

    Lawson Chen

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  1. Zhijun Wei
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Correspondence to Lingjie Zhang.

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Wei, Z., Zhang, L., Yang, H. et al. Effect of preparing method of ZnO powders on electrical arc erosion behavior of Ag/ZnO electrical contact material. Journal of Materials Research 31, 468–479 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.20

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