Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.

Unitika Ltd.

Koji Tsuji

Shuji Yamada

Yoshinobu Takegawa

Hayato Inada

Nobuyoshi Yano

Akira Tanimura

Akira Menju

Yoshinbou Takegawa

A silver base electrical contact material is described which contains uniformly in a silver matrix dispersed particles of nickel, nickel oxide, and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of vanadium, manganese, chromium, thallium, titanium, cobalt, and tungsten carbide. The contact material contains 1.3 to 24.8 wt % of nickel, 0.2 to 4.7 wt % of nickel oxide, 0.05 to 3 wt % of the additive, and balance silver. A superior silver base contact material having excellent welding and wear resistances is obtained by adding the metals and the metal carbide to a silver-nickel-nickel oxide contact material.

Silver base electrical contact material

A silver base electrical contact material with superior resistance to arc erosion along with improved wear and welding resistance. The contact material consists essentially of 0.5 to 39.9 wt % of nickel, 0.14 to 7.0 wt % of nickel oxides, and balance silver. The material contains not less than 0.4 wt % of nickel responsible for constituting minute nickel and nickel particles which have a particle size of not more than 1 .mu.m and are dispersed in a silver matrix for strengthening the material to give improved wear and welding resistance. The dispersed minute nickel oxide particles are included to stabilize arcing occurring at the time of opening and closing contacts in such a manner as to anchor one end of an arc substantially at any immediately available point over the entire contact surface as soon as the arcing occurs, thereby preventing the arc end from moving violently across or beyond the contact surface and therefore minimizing arc related damages or arc erosion. The contact material is made in accordance with a novel method which can disperse the minute nickel and nickel oxide particles in adequate quantities and eliminate the inclusion of undesired bulk and coarse nickel particles which would otherwise deteriorate the contact properties.

Silver base electrical contact material and method of making the same

A silver base electrical contact material with superior resistance to arc erosion along with improved wear and welding resistance. The contact material consists essentially of 0.5 to 39.9 wt % of nickel, 0.14 to 7.0 wt % of nickel oxides, and balance silver. The material contains not less than, 0.4 wt % of nickel responsible for constituting minute nickel and nickel particles which have a particle size of not more than 1 .mu.m and are dispersed in a silver matrix for strengthening the material to give improved wear and welding resistance. The dispersed minute nickel oxide particles are included to stabilize arcing occurring at the time of opening and closing contacts in such a manner as to anchor one end of an arc substantially at any immediately available point over the entire contact surface as soon as the arcing occurs, thereby preventing the arc end from moving violently across or beyond the contact surface and therefore minimizing arc related damages or arc erosion. The contact material is made in accordance with a novel method which can disperse the minute nickel and nickel oxide particles in adequate quantities and eliminate the inclusion of undesired bulk and coarse nickel particles which would otherwise deteriorate the contact properties.

An electrically conductive composite material is formed by dispersing in a matrix metal the other metal which is not solid soluble with the matrix metal. The other metal is finely divided to an extent of not excessively lowering the conductivity and is mixed in the matrix metal in a particle amount with which respective particles keep a mutual distance effective to strengthen the composite material, whereby the material is sufficiently improved in the mechanical strength and wear resistance and remarkably reduced in the high temperature deformation. Such conductive composite material can be obtained through a melt atomization.

Rapid solidification of metal-metal composites having Ag, Au or Cu atrix

A shape memory alloy consists of a three element alloy of nickel-titanium-copper which is formed as being subjected to a cold working and to a heat treatment at a temperature below recrystallization point of the alloy for storing the shape, the alloy being thereby improved in operation stability and reliability even after repetitive operation and made wider in environmental temperature range for use therein of the alloy.

Shape memory alloy and electric path protective device utilizing the

An electrically conductive composite material is formed by dispersing in a matrix metal another metal which is insoluble or slightly soluble with the matrix metal. The other metal is finely divided to an extent of not excessively lowering the conductivity and is mixed in the matrix metal in a particle amount such that respective particles keep a mutual distance effective to strengthen the composite material. The material is thereby sufficiently improved in the mechanical strength and wear resistance and remarkably reduced in high temperature deformation. Such conductive composite material can be obtained through a melt atomization.

Composite conductive material

An electrical contact material consists of Ag in which a metallic oxide is produced and dispersed through an internal oxidation and containing as metallic elements Cd, Mn and Al. With this contact material of this composition, there can be shown a high anti-welding property and a stably low contact resistance.

Electrical contact material and method of preparing same

A joint material that is improved in arc-proof characteristic, fusion-proof characteristic, and consumption-proof characteristic. The joint material contains silver, lithium oxide and one selected from the group consisting of aluminium oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, and silicon oxide. Furthermore, one selected from the group consisting of iron, nickel and cobalt may be contained as an additional component in the joint material. Such joint material is produced by a method of oxidizing the silver alloy containing lithium and one selected from the group consisting of aluminium, calcium, magnesium, and silicon, with the composition ratio of 0.1-3 wt % for lithium, and 0.01-1 wt % for aluminium, calcium, magnesium, and silicon, respectively, in quantitive conversion to metal or by a method of oxidizing the silver alloy containing, in addition to the components mentioned above, one selected from the group consisting of iron, nickel, and cobalt, with the composition ratio of 0.05-1 wt %. In either of those methods, the oxidization mentioned above is performed through internal oxidation in order to disperse each of the foregoing oxides in silver.

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Nara, Japan

Koji Tsuji