Changes

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.