Arc Erosion Behaviors of Ag-GNPs Electrical Contact Materials Fabricated with Different Graphene Nanoplates Content

Abstract

In order to clarify the arc erosion behavior of Ag-GNPs electrical contact materials, Ag-GNPs electrical contact materials with different graphene nanoplates content from 0.5wt.% to 2.0wt.% were prepared by powder metallurgy. The microstructure, density, and electrical conductivity were investigated in detail. The weight loss, surface morphologies of the Ag-GNPs materials after arc erosion were characterized, and the arc erosion mechanism of Ag-GNPs materials was discussed. The experimental results show that high GNPs content decreases the densities and electrical conductivity of the Ag-GNPs materials. The Ag-GNPs electrical contact material with 1.5wt.%GNPs presents the best anti-arc erosion performance, which has the lowest weight loss and shallowest arc erosion pits after arc erosion under DC 25V/15A.