Quasi-Continuous Network Structure Greatly Improved the Anti-Arc-Erosion Capability of Ag/YO Electrical Contacts.

Ag/YO has excellent potential to replace Ag/CdO as the environmentally friendly electrical contact material. Using spherical YO as the starting material, Ag/YO contacts with a quasi-continuous network structure were successfully fabricated by a low-energy ball milling treatment. The mean size of YO used ranged from 243 to 980 nm. Due to the differences in the size of YO, Ag/YO contacts had different primitive microstructures, thereby exhibiting distinctive anti-arc-erosion capabilities. Ag/YO contact prepared using 243 nm YO showed the best anti-arc-erosion capability and the most outstanding electrical performance measures, such as low contact resistance, less mass transfer, and no failure up to 10 cycle times. The quasi-continuous network structure formed in the micro-scale was responsible for the excellent electrical performance. The short distance between YO particles in the network promoted the cathode arc motion, and thus alleviated the localized erosion. The results obtained herein may inspire further attempts to design electrical contacts rationally.