Microstructure and Properties of CuCrTe Contact Material for Vacuum Switches

Because of deficiencies of CuCrTe contact material manufactured by powder metallurgy(PM) process and improving its breaking current capacity,the vacuum melting manufacturing process was used to manufacture CuCrTe contact material and its properties were tested in this paper.The results of test show that the microstructure,anti-welding property,breaking current capacity,chopping current level and voltage withstand characteristics of CuCrTe material made by vacuum melting were better than those of CuCr50 material made by traditional power metallurgical technique,especially its breaking current capacity has been improved about 26%,therefore,it is a new type of contact material with better properties.