# US 9,437,998 B2 · Method of preparing silver-based electrical contact materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles

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- Number: US 9,437,998 B2
- Document ID: US9437998B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/578,378
- Filed: 2011-04-11
- Published: 2013-10-24
- Granted: 2016-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2010-12-09
- Assignees: Wenzhou Hongfeng Electrical Alloy Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Lesheng Chen; Xiao Chen; Chengfa Mu; Gengxin Qi
- Inventors: Lesheng Chen; Xiao Chen; Chengfa Mu; Gengxin Qi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9437998B2

## CPC

- B22F 3/162: {Machining, working after consolidation}
- B22F 1/17: Metallic particles coated with metal
- B22F 1/18: Non-metallic particles coated with metal
- B22F 3/20: by extruding
- B22F 9/24: starting from liquid metal compounds, e.g. solutions
- C22C 5/06: Alloys based on silver
- H01B 1/02: mainly consisting of metals or alloys
- H01R 43/16: for manufacturing contact members, e.g. by punching and by bending
- B22F 2998/10: Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps
- B22F: WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER (making alloys by powder metallurgy C22C); APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
- C22C: ALLOYS (treatment of alloys C21D, C22F)
- H01B: CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES (selection for magnetic properties H01F1/00; waveguides H01P {; printed circuits H05K})
- H01R: ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS

## Abstract

A method of preparing silver-based electrical contact materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles includes steps of: (1) preparing composite powders with Ag coating on the reinforcing phase by chemical plating coating; (2) granulating; (3) placing the granulated powders and the matrix silver powders into the powder mixer for mixing; (4) cold-isostatically pressing; (5) sintering; (6) hot-presssing; (7) hot-extruding, thereby obtaining the reinforcing silver-based electrical contact materials with directionally arranged particles. Regardless of the size of reinforcing particles, the present invention can obtain particle-reinforced silver-based materials with excellent electrical performance. The process is simple and easy to operate, and places no special requirements on the equipment. Furthermore, the resistance to welding and arc erosion, and the conductivity of the material prepared by the present invention can be greatly improved. Moreover, the processing performance is excellent.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of preparing silver-based electrical contact materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles comprising steps of:
(A) dissolving reinforcing powders in hydrazine hydrate solution to form a mixed solution, adding the mixed solution into AgNO3 solution for stirring, simultaneously adding ammonia for adjusting a PH value of the AgNO3 solution which forms precipitates through a reaction, filtering out precipitation following the reaction, and washing and drying the filtered precipitation, thereby obtaining composite powders with Ag coating on the reinforcing phase, wherein a weight ratio of the reinforcing phase to AgNO3 is calculated according to a content of the material needed, and a weight ratio of the hydrazine hydrate to AgNO3 is calculated according to Ag on reduced by the hydrazine hydrate;
(B) granulating the composite powders obtained from the step (A);
(C) placing the composite powders obtained from the step (B) and silver powders into a powder mixer for mixing, wherein a weight ratio of the composite powders to the silver powders is calculated according to the content of the preparation material needed;
(D) cold-isostatically pressing the composite and silver powders obtained from the step (C);
(E) sintering the cold-isostatically pressed body to form a sintered body;
(F) hot-pressing the sintered body to form a hot-pressed body; and
(G) hot-extruding the hot-pressed body, wherein during the hot-extrusion process, the composite powders with Ag coating on the reinforcing phase flow with softened Ag in the silver powders, due to coating of Ag, the reinforcing powders are easily open, and directionally arranged along an extrusion direction for forming a fibrous structure, thereby obtaining the silver-based electrical contract material with directionally arranged reinforcing particles,
wherein in the step (A), a weight ratio of the reinforcing powders to AgNO3 is 1/4-10/3; a weight ratio of the hydrazine hydrate to AgNO3 is 2/3-1/3; a stirring speed is 80rev/min-120rev/min; an adjusted PH value after adding the ammonia is 8-11; a reaction time is 3-10 hours; a drying temperature is 40-100° C.; and a drying time is 5-10 hours.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 1, wherein in the step (E) a sintering temperature is 400-800° C., and a sintering time is 2-6 hours.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 2, wherein in the step (C), a speed of the powder mixer is 20 rev/min-30 rev/min, and a mixing time is 2-4 hours.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 3, wherein in the step (D), a cold isostatic pressure is 100-500 MPa.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 4, wherein in the step (E), a sintering temperature is 600-800° C., and a sintering time is 5-9 hours.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 5, wherein in the step (F), a hot-pressing temperature is 500-800° C., a hot-pressing pressure is 300-700 MPa, and a hot-pressing time is 1 min-20 min.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of preparing silver based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles according to claim 6, wherein in the step (G), a heating temperature of the body is 600-900° C., in the extrusion an extruding ratio is 100-400, an extruding speed is 5-20 cm/min, and a pre-heating temperature of an extrusion mold is 300-500° C.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of preparing silver-based electrical contract materials with directionally arranged reinforcing particles, according to claim 7, wherein for the silver-based electrical contract material with directionally arranged reinforcing particles, the reinforcing phase exists in the silver powders in the step (C) in a form of particles connecting with each other and being directionally arranged, an average size of the reinforcing particles is 50 nm-30 pm.