TECHNICAL DATA SHEET
SILVER-NICKEL CONTACT MATERIALS

OVERVIEW
Silver-nickel contact materials are used typically in low and medium power applications. Switches, mini-relays and low power contactors are typical applications for silver-nickel. There is some use of silver-nickel in AC circuit breakers. Contact resistances are relatively low and remain stable over time when compared to silver-copper alloys. As the nickel content increases, the contact resistance increases. The increase in the nickel content also improves the materials resistance to arc erosion. One disadvantage of silver-nickel is its diminishing arc erosion properties over 100 amps.

AVAILABILITY
Silver-nickels are produced through powder metallurgy processes. Compositions for these materials range from 5% nickel to 30% nickel. The lower concentrations of nickel can be manufactured into strip and wire products for further fabrication into contact rivets, clad products and discrete contacts. The materials with the higher nickel concentrations are produced as discrete contacts, through unit compaction processes. The discrete contacts are often supplied with braze alloy flushed to the brazing face.

Note
The asterisk (*) indicates the fully annealed condition. The compositions listed are generally considered the industry standards. The values listed above represent the typical average properties of the materials. Modifications to meet special applications may be possible.