Fitting-type connection terminal

Abstract

There is disclosed a fitting-type connection terminal in which an insertion force for a terminal can be reduced while maintaining a stable contact resistance. If the thickness of a tin film on one of male and female terminals is 0.1 μm to 0.3 μm while the thickness of a tin film on the other terminal is not less than 0.1 μm, the hardness of the terminal is increasingly influenced by the hardness of a base material (of copper or copper alloy) with the decrease of the thickness of the tin film, so that the apparent hardness of the terminal increases. As a result, the adhesion of the tin film is suppressed, and the terminal insertion force can be reduced at least by more than 10% as compared with a reference value (1.0 μm for each of the male and female terminals). Particularly if the thickness of the tin film on the male terminal 10 is 0.1 μm while the thickness of the tin film on the female terminal 20 is 0.3 μm to 1.0 μm, the insertion force can be reduced by more than 30%.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.