Graphene oxide and silver effects on the arc erosion properties of Al2O3–Cu/30Cr composite
Qiujie Liu, Meng Zhou, Baohong Tian, Yi Zhang, Qimeng Zhang, Jiacan Zhang, Zhiyu Han, Chunhe Chu, Ke Jing, Xu Li, Huiwen Guo, Alex A. Volinsky
Abstract
To investigate methods for enhancing the resistance of electrical contact materials to arc erosion, this study focuses on the preparation and properties of novel composites. Al 2 O 3 –Cu/30Cr and 0.3GO-0.3Ag/Al 2 O 3 –Cu/30Cr composites were fabricated using vacuum hot press sintering. The composites achieved high relative densities (99.82% and 99.6%), good electrical conductivities (47.8% IACS and 46.1% IACS), excellent hardness (142 HV and 158 HV), and superior thermal conductivities (124 W/(m·K) and 188 W/(m·K) at 150 °C), with compressive strengths of 693 MPa and 711 MPa. In addition, the addition of GO-Ag improved the resistance of the material to arc erosion, and the transfer and loss of the material were significantly reduced. Under the 30 V DC 30 A condition, the anode mass gain, cathode mass reduction and total mass loss decreasing from 3 mg, 3.73 mg, and 0.73 mg–1.97 mg, 2.30 mg, and 0.33 mg, respectively. Furthermore, the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) results show that Cr 3 C 2 compounds effectively pin the Cr–Cu interface. High thermal conductivity and good micro-interface improve the electrical contact properties of the composites and help to improve the compression properties.