Sliding electrical contact behavior of AuAgCu brush on Au plating

The sliding electrical contact behavior of AuAgCu brush on Au plating was investigated at various normal loads and sliding speeds. The contact voltage drop and electrical noise between the two brushes were measured and the resistance waveforms were recorded. The morphologies of the worn surfaces and wear debris of the brush and plating were observed. The results show that the contact voltage drop and electrical noise decrease with the addition of load whereas increase drastically with increasing sliding speed. With the electrical current in vacuum, the wear process of AuAgCu brush on Au plating involves adhesion, transfer of gold from the plating to the brush, rolling of wear debris between contact surfaces and arc-induced melt at the contact edge, and this gold-on-gold sliding electrical contact system is reliable within experiment period.