Other

Dowa Mining Co., Ltd.

Yazaki Corporation

Yoshitake Hana

Akira Sugawara

Takayoshi Endo

Osamu Sugiyama

Wear resistant copper or a wear resistant copper base alloy having formed on the outermost surface thereof an oxide layer having a thickness of 10-1000 nm and a layer of an intermetallic compound primarily comprising Cu&mdash;Sn having a thickness of 0.1-10 &mgr;m under the oxide film layer is provided; a method of preparing the above-described wear resistant copper or copper base alloy by coating base material copper or a copper base alloy with Sn, preferably performing reflow treatment and then conducting heat treatment is provided; and an electrical part comprising the above-described wear resistant copper or copper base alloy is provided. A terminal made of the alloy according to the present invention which has an appropriate oxide film layer by performing heat treatment can greatly decrease a terminal-insertion force compared with that made of an ordinary copper base alloy which is not subjected to the heat treatment. The wear resistant copper or copper base alloy according to the present invention has a large surface hardness, an excellent slipping property, small contact resistance, an excellent electrical characteristic, as well as the small terminal-insertion force so that it can advantageously be used in an electrical part such as a connector or the like for use in an automobile, a charging socket or the like for use in an electric automobile.

Wear resistant copper base alloy, method of preparing the same and electrical part using the same

A process for the production of copper or a copper base alloy that provides a surface having improved characteristics suitable for the production of a connector or a charging-socket of an electric automobile by having a decreased coefficient of friction on the surface and improved resistance to abrasion. The process comprises coating copper or a copper alloy with Sn, followed by heat treating the resulting Sn-plated copper or copper base in an atmosphere having an oxygen content of no more than 5%, thereby forming on an outermost surface thereof an oxide film and beneath the surface a layer of an intermetallic compound mainly comprising Cu&mdash;Sn.

Process for production of copper or copper base alloys

A copper alloy for terminals of the Cu&mdash;Ni&mdash;Sn&mdash;P system or Cu&mdash;Ni&mdash;Sn&mdash;P&mdash;Zn system and that has a tensile strength of at least 500 N/mm,, a spring limit of at least 400 N/mm,, a stress relaxation of no more than 10%, a conductivity of at least 30% IACS and a bending workability in terms of a R/t ratio of no more than 2. The spring portion or the entire part of such terminals are produced from the copper alloy, and have an initial insertion/extraction force of 1.5 N to 30 N and a resistance of no more than 3 m&OHgr; at low voltage and low current as initial performance. The terminals experience not more than 20% stress relaxation. The alloy is superior to the conventional bronze, phosphor bronze and Cu&mdash;Sn&mdash;Fe&mdash;P alloys for terminals in terms of tensile strength, spring limit, stress relaxation characteristics and conductivity and, hence, the terminals manufactured from such alloys have higher performance and reliability than terminals made of the conventional copper alloys for terminals.

Copper base alloys and terminals using the same

The invention provides a process for producing a coated Cu alloy having a surface which has a low coefficient of friction and a high resistance to abrasion and is suitable for fabricating connectors, charging-sockets of electric automobiles etc. The coated Cu alloy is produced by coating the surface of a copper alloy with Sn and heat treating the coated Cu alloy at a temperature in the range of 100-450&deg; C. for 0.5-24 hours. The Cu alloy which is coated with Sn consists of 1-41 wt % Zn with the balance being Cu and incidental impurities. By using the coated Cu alloy, the force of insertion, resistance to abrasion and resistance to corrosion of connectors can be significantly improved.

Process for the production of a coated copper alloy

The invention provides a coated Cu alloy and a process for producing the coated Cu alloy having a surface which has a low coefficient of friction and a high resistance to abrasion and is suitable for fabricating connectors, charging-sockets of electric automobiles etc. The coated Cu alloy is produced by coating the surface of a copper alloy with Sn and heat treating the coated Cu alloy at a temperature in the range of 100-450.degree. C. for 0.5-24 hours. The Cu alloy which is coated with Sn consists of 1-41 wt % Zn with the balance being Cu and incidental impurities. By using the coated Cu alloy, the force of insertion, resistance to abrasion and resistance to corrosion of connectors can be significantly improved.

Hard coated copper alloys

A coated Cu alloy having a high hardness surface which contains intermetallic compounds consisting essentially of Cu and Sn is produced by coating the surface of a Cu alloy with Sn and heat treating the coated Cu alloy to form on the surface thereof a high hardness coating containing Cu--Sn intermetallic compound(s). The coated Cu alloy has improved resistance to abrasion and corrosion and good workability, which permits producing terminal connectors therefrom. The Cu alloy which is coated with Sn consists essentially of 0.01-15 wt % Ni, 0.1-10 wt % Sn, 0.005-0.5 wt % P, and optionally 0.01-40 wt % in total of one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Zn, Ti, Mg, Zr, Ca, Si, Mn, Cd, Al, Pb, Be, Te, In, Ag, B, Y, La, Cr, Ce and Au, with the balance being Cu and incidental impurities.

Growing community of inventors

Toyooka-mura, Japan

Yoshitake Hana