Influences of different manufacture ways on the anti-welding ability of electrical contacts

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of different manufacture ways of CuCr30 contacts including vacuum arc melting (VAM), vacuum induction melting (VIM), and powder metallurgy (PM) on the welding properties of CuCr contacts. The electrical experiment was conducted by 10 times of operation with prestrike inrush current. The results indicate that: prestrike arcing durations of contacts made by VAR and VIM are shorter than those made of PM that has higher density of contact material and more homogeneous micro-structure with fine dispersion Cr particles in copper matrix . While contacts made by PM have lower welding force compared with VAR and VIM, which means it is easier to separate when welding happens. Pre-strike arcing duration of contacts made by VIM decreased as operation times increase. Which attributes to the fine Cr particles of contact material in the remelting layer.