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Those used in electrical contacts are heterogeneous materials, composed of two or more uniformly dispersed components, in which the largest volume portion consists of a metal.
The properties of composite materials are determined mainly independent from each other by the properties of their individual components. Therefore it is, for example, possible to combine the high melting point and arc erosion resistance of tungsten with the low melting and good electrical conductivity of copper or the high conductivity of silver with the weld resistant metalloid graphite. (<xr id="fig:Powder metallurgical manufacturing of composite materials (schematic)"/>) shows the schematic manufacturing processes from powder blending to contact material. Three basic process variations are typically applied:
*Sintering without liquid phase (Press-Sinter-Repress, PSR)
