Research on Fretting Resistance and Fretting Wear Property of Ni-Au Contact Pair

Au-Au plated contact pairs have long been the most frequently used in electrical and telecommunication system due to their outstanding electrical, physical and chemical properties. However, the increasingly high cost of gold plated connectors forces the manufacturers to seek some inexpensive substitution due to serious global competition. Ni and/or Ni alloy are naturally chosen to make Ni-Au contact pairs. In this paper, Ni-Au contact pairs, that is, Ni is used as probe and gold plating as coupon, are done fretting researches. Fretting tests are finished at the condition of fretting amplitude 200 μm, fretting speed 400μm/s, 3 various normal forces and 5 different number of fretting cycles, 3 repeat times for every fretting conditions. Contact resistance is recorded by capture card with speed 14 data/fretting cycle and measured at constant DC current 100mA and limited voltage IV. Morphology and element composition of fretting wear track are observed and analyzed to study the fretting process and mechanism of Ni-Au contact pairs.