Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Takashi Kusano

Atsushi Yamamoto

Tsutomu Okutomi

Tsuneyo Seki

Mitsutaka Homma

Iwao Ohshima

Takanobu Nishimura

Makoto Kataoka

Hiromichi Somei

Kiyoshi Osabe

&lcub;W&mdash;Cu Sb-balance Cu&rcub; alloy is employed for contacts. As the anti-arcing constituent in the alloy W or WMo in a content of 65 to 85%, of grain diameter 0.4 to 9 &mgr;m is employed. As auxiliary constituent, Cu Sb is employed, the content of the Cu Sb being 0.09 to 1.4 weight %, the x being x&equals;1.9 to 5.5, the grain diameter being 0.02 to 20 &mgr;m, and the mean distance between grains being 0.2 to 300 &mgr;m. As conductive constituent, Cu or CuSb solid solution is employed, the Sb content present in solid solution form in the CuSb solid solution being less than 0.5%. As a result, not only is dispersion of Cu Sb, which is evaporated on subjection to arcing, reduced, but also generation of severe cracks, which have an adverse effect in terms of occurrence of restriking. Arcing at the contacts surfaces is prevented, suppressing dispersion and exfoliation of W grains. In this way, damage due to melting and dispersion at the contacts surfaces is reduced, enabling both restriking to be prevented and the contact resistance characteristic to be improved.

Vacuum interrupter and vacuum switch thereof

A contact material for forming a contact included in a vacuum interrupter comprises 50 to 70% by weight of a conductive material containing Cu as a principal component, an arc-proof material containing at least either TiC or VC and having a mean particle diameter of 8 &mgr;m or below, and 0.2 to 2.0% by weight of Cr on the basis of the sum of the respective amounts of Cr and Cu or 0.2 to 2/0% by weight of Zr on the basis of the sum of the respective amounts of Zr and Cu. The contact material has a hydrogen content in the range of 0.2 to 50 ppm.

Contact material for contacts for vacuum interrupter and method of manufacturing the contact

The contact material of the present invention comprises: an anti-arcing constituent consisting of at least one TiC, V and VC of which the content is 30&tilde;70 volume % and whose mean particle (grain) size is 0.1&tilde;9 &mgr;m; C whose content is 0.005&tilde;0.5 weight % with respect to the anti-arcing constituent, whose diameter is 0.01&tilde;5 &mgr;m when its shape is calculated as spherical, and which is in non-solid solution condition or condition in which it does not form a chemical compound; and a conductive constituent consisting of Cu and constituting the balance.

Contact material

A vacuum valve which has a contact material having a constituent of high electrical conductivity such as Cu and an anti-arcing constituent including Cr in which particles whose particle size is in the range 0.1.about.150 .mu.m represent at least 90 volume %, and a ratio defined by the formula (.alpha..sub.900 -.alpha..sub.50).times.100/(.alpha..sub.900) for this contact material has a value of 8-12% and is the coefficient of thermal expansion of the contact material .alpha..sub.50 is the coefficient of thermal expansion of the contact material at 50.degree. C. The formation of channels generated at the interfaces of the Cr particles and the Cu matrix after undergoing the brazing step is suppressed, enabling the static withstand-voltage, contact resistance, and the breaking performance characteristics of the vacuum valve to be stabilized.

Vacuum valve

A contact material for a vacuum interrupter including, a conductive component including at least Cu, and an arc-proof component including at least one selected from the group consisting of carbides of W, Zr, Hf, V and Ti. An amount of the conductive component in the contact material is 40-50 vol %, an amount of the arc-proof component in the contact material is 50-60 vol %, and a grain size of the arc-proof component is 3 .mu.m or less. A total amount of a sintering activator including at least one selected from the group consisting of Co, Fe and Ni melted in the conductive component is 0.1% or less of the amount of the conductive component.

Contact material for vacuum interrupter and method for producing the same

The vacuum valve contact material of the present invention is manufactured by a step of mixing an anti-arc constituent powder and a conductive constituent powder, a step of forming, and a step of sintering the formed body below the melting point of the conductive constituent, and has improved arc interruption performance.

Contact material for vacuum valve

A contact material for a vacuum valve including, a conductive constituent including at least copper, an arc-proof constituent including at least chromium and an auxiliary constituent including at least one selected from the group consisting of tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and niobium. The contact material is manufactured by quench solidification of a composite body of the conductive constituent, the arc-proof constituent and the anxiliary constituent.

Contact material for vacuum valve and method of manufacturing the same

A contact material for a vacuum valve including, a conductive constituent including at least copper, an arc-proof constituent including at least chromium and an auxiliary constituent including at least one selected from the group consisting of tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and niobium. The contact material is manufactured by quench solidification of a composite body of the conductive constituent, the arc-proof constituent and the auxiliary constituent.

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Tokyo, Japan

Takashi Kusano