Changes

=== Pure Silver===Pure silver (also called fine silver) exhibits the highest electrical and thermalconductivity of all metals. It is also resistant against oxidation. Major disadvantagesare its low mechanical wear resistance, the low softening temperature,and especially its strong affinity to sulfur and sulfur compounds. In the presenceof sulfur and sulfur containing compounds brownish to black silver sulfide layerare formed on its surface. These can cause increased contact resistance oreven total failure of a switching device if they are not mechanically, electrically,or thermally destroyed. Other weaknesses of silver contacts are the tendency toweld under the influence of over-currents and the low resistance againstmaterial transfer when switching DC loads. In humid environments and underthe influence of an electrical field silver can creep (silver migration) and causeelectrical shorting between adjacent current paths. Table 2.11 shows the typically available quality grades of silver. In certaineconomic areas, i.e. China, there are additional grades with varying amounts ofimpurities available on the market. In powder form silver is used for a widevariety of silver based composite contact materials. Different manufacturingprocesses result in different grades of Ag powder as shown in Table 2.12.additional properties of silver powders and their usage are describedin chapter 8.1.Semi-finished silver materials can easily be warm or cold formed and can beclad to the usual base materials. For attachment of silver to contact carriermaterials welding of wire or profile cut-offs and brazing are most widely applied.Besides these mechanical processes such as wire insertion (wire staking) andthe riveting (staking) of solid or composite contact rivets are used in themanufacture of contact components. Contacts made from fine silver are applied in various electrical switchingdevices such as relays, pushbuttons, appliance and control switches forcurrents < 2 A ''(Table 2.16)''. Electroplated silver coatings are widely used toreduce the contact resistance and improve the brazing behavior of other contactmaterials and components. Table 2.11: Overview of the Most Widely Used Silver Grades Table 2.12: Quality Criteria of Differently Manufactured Silver Powders Fig. 2.45:Strain hardeningof Ag 99.95 by cold working Fig. 2.46:Softening of Ag 99.95after annealing for 1 hr after differentdegrees of strain hardening ===Silver Alloys===To improve the physical and contact properties of fine silver melt-metallurgicalproduced silver alloys are used ''(Table 2.13)''. By adding metal components themechanical properties such as hardness and tensile strength as well as typicalcontact properties such as erosion resistance, and resistance against materialtransfer in DC circuits are increased ''(Table 2.14)''. On the other hand however,other properties such as electrical conductivity and chemical corrosionresistance can be negatively impacted by alloying ''(Figs. 2.47 and 2.48)''. ====Fine-Grain Silver====Fine-Grain Silver (ARGODUR-Spezial) is defined as a silver alloy with an additionof 0.15 wt% of Nickel. Silver and nickel are not soluble in each other in solidform. In liquid silver only a small amount of nickel is soluble as the phase diagram''(Fig. 2.51)'' illustrates. During solidification of the melt this nickel addition getsfinely dispersed in the silver matrix and eliminates the pronounce coarse graingrowth after prolonged influence of elevated temperatures ''(Figs. 2.49 and 2.50)''. Fine-grain silver has almost the same chemical corrosion resistance as finesilver. Compared to pure silver it exhibits a slightly increased hardness andtensile strength ''(Table 2.14)''. The electrical conductivity is just slightly decreasedby this low nickel addition. Because of its significantly improved contactproperties fine grain silver has replaced pure silver in many applications. ====Hard-Silver Alloys====Using copper as an alloying component increases the mechanical stability ofsilver significantly. The most important among the binary AgCu alloys is that ofAgCu3, known in europe also under the name of hard-silver. This material stillhas a chemical corrosion resistance close to that of fine silver. In comparison topure silver and fine-grain silver AgCu3 exhibits increased mechanical strengthas well as higher arc erosion resistance and mechanical wear resistance''(Table 2.14)''. Increasing the Cu content further also increases the mechanical strength ofAgCu alloys and improves arc erosion resistance and resistance againstmaterial transfer while at the same time however the tendency to oxide formationbecomes detrimental. This causes during switching under arcing conditions anincrease in contact resistance with rising numbers of operation. In specialapplications where highest mechanical strength is recommended and a reducedchemical resistance can be tolerated, the eutectic AgCu alloy with 28 wt% ofcopper ''(Fig. 2.52)'' is used. AgCu10 also known as coin silver has beenreplaced in many applications by composite silver-based materials while sterlingsilver (AgCu7.5) has never extended its important usage from decorative tablewear and jewelry to industrial applications in electrical contacts. Besides these binary alloys, ternary AgCuNi alloys are used in electrical contactapplications. From this group the material ARGODUR 27, an alloy of 98 wt% Agwith a 2 wt% Cu and nickel addition has found practical importance close to thatof AgCu3. This material is characterized by high resistance to oxidation and lowtendency to re-crystallization during exposure to high temperatures. Besideshigh mechanical stability this AgCuNi alloy also exhibits a strong resistanceagainst arc erosion. Because of its high resistance against material transfer thealloy AgCu24.5Ni0.5 has been used in the automotive industry for an extendedtime in the North American market. Caused by miniaturization and the relatedreduction in available contact forces in relays and switches this material hasbeen replaced widely because of its tendency to oxide formation. The attachment methods used for the hard silver materials are mostly close tothose applied for fine silver and fine grain silver. Hard-silver alloys are widely used for switching applications in the informationand energy technology for currents up to 10 A, in special cases also for highercurrent ranges ''(Table 2.16)''. Dispersion hardened alloys of silver with 0.5 wt% MgO and NiO (ARGODUR 32)are produced by internal oxidation. While the melt-metallurgical alloy is easy tocold-work and form the material becomes very hard and brittle after dispersionhardening. Compared to fine silver and hard-silver this material has a greatlyimproved temperature stability and can be exposed to brazing temperatures upto 800°C without decreasing its hardness and tensile strength.Because of these mechanical properties and its high electrical conductivity Table 2.13: Physical Properties of Silver and Silver Alloys ARGODUR 32 is mainly used in the form of contact springs that are exposed tohigh thermal and mechanical stresses in relays, and contactors for aeronauticapplications. Fig. 2.47:Influence of 1-10 atom% of differentalloying metals on the electrical resistivity ofsilver Fig. 2.48:Electrical resistivity pof AgCu alloys with 0-20 weight% Cuin the soft annealedand tempered stagea) Annealed and quenchedb) Tempered at 280°C Fig. 2.49: Coarse grain micro structureof Ag 99.97 after 80% cold workingand 1 hr annealing at 600°C Fig. 2.50: Fine grain microstructureof AgNi0.15 after 80% cold workingand 1 hr annealing at 600°C Fig. 2.51:Phase diagramof silver-nickel Fig. 2.52:Phase diagramof silver-copper Fig. 2.53:Phase diagram ofsilver-cadmium Table 2.14: Mechanical Properties of Silver and Silver Alloys Fig. 2.54:Strain hardeningof AgCu3by cold working Fig. 2.55:Softening of AgCu3after annealing for 1 hrafter 80% cold working Fig. 2.56:Strain hardening of AgCu5 by coldworking Fig. 2.57:Softening of AgCu5 afterannealing for 1 hr after 80% coldworking Fig. 2.58:Strain hardening of AgCu 10by cold working Fig. 2.59:Softening of AgCu10 afterannealing for 1 hr after 80% coldworking Fig. 2.60:Strain hardening of AgCu28 bycold working Fig. 2.61:Softening of AgCu28after annealing for 1 hr after80% cold working Fig. 2.62:Strain hardening of AgNi0.15by cold working Fig. 2.63:Softening of AgNi0.15after annealing for 1 hr after 80%cold working Fig. 2.64:Strain hardening ofARGODUR 27by cold working Fig. 2.65:Softeningof ARGODUR 27 after annealingfor 1 hr after 80% cold working Table 2.15Main Articel: Contact and Switching Properties of [[Silver and Silver Alloys Table 2.16: Application Examples and Forms of Supply for Silver and Silver Alloys ====Silver-Palladium Alloys====The addition of 30 wt% Pd increases the mechanical properties as well as theresistance of silver against the influence of sulfur and sulfur containingcompounds significantly ''(Tables 2.17 and 2.18)''.Alloys with 40-60 wt% Pd have an even higher resistance against silver sulfideformation. At these percentage ranges however the catalytic properties ofpalladium can influence the contact resistance behavior negatively. Theformability also decreases with increasing Pd contents. AgPd alloys are hard, arc erosion resistant, and have a lower tendency towardsmaterial transfer under DC loads ''(Table 2.19)''. On the other hand the electricalconductivity is decreased at higher Pd contents. The ternary alloy AgPd30Cu5has an even higher hardness which makes it suitable for use in sliding contactsystems. AgPd alloys are mostly used in relays for the switching of medium to higher loads(>60V, >2A) as shown in Table 2.20. Because of the high palladium price theseformerly solid contacts have been widely replaced by multi-layer designs suchas AgNi0.15 or AgNi10 with a thin Au surface layer. A broader field of applicationfor AgPd alloys remains in the wear resistant sliding contact systems. Fig. 2.66: Phase diagram of silver-palladium Fig. 2.67:Strain hardeningof AgPd30 by cold working Fig. 2.68:Strain hardeningof AgPd50 by cold working Fig. 2.69:Strain hardeningof AgPd30Cu5by cold working Fig. 2.70:Softening of AgPd30, AgPd50,and AgPd30Cu5 after annealing of 1 hrafter 80% cold working Table 2.17: Physical Properties of Silver-Palladium Alloys Table 2.18: Mechanical Properties of Silver-Palladium Alloys Table 2.19: Contact and Switching Properties of Silver-Palladium Alloys Table 2.20: Application Examples and Forms of Suppl for Based Materials| Silver-Palladium AlloysBased Materials]]