Study on DC arc performance of doped AgSnO2 contact materials

In this paper, AgSnO2 contact materials doped with Bi2O3, CeO2, La2O3 and TiO2 were prepared by powder metallurgy. The arc time, arc energy and welding force of the four contact materials were measured, and the arc combustion images and surface microstructure were photographed, which were used to investigate the effects of different additives on the arc properties of contact materials. The JF04C electrical contact material testing system was used to measure arc parameters, high-speed camera and scanning electron microscope were used to capture arc image and surface morphology, respectively. The obtained image was processed using an image processing method based on mathematical morphology. The arc area change was obtained by arc image processing, and then the arc combustion process was analyzed. Combined with arc parameters, arc area and microstructure analysis, the advantages and disadvantages of the four-contact materials doping with different additives against arc erosion were investigated. The results show that the AgSnO2/Bi2O3 and AgSnO2/CeO2 contact materials have strong arc erosion resistance among the four contact materials.