Enhanced anti-welding and arc erosion performance of Ag-8 wt%SnO2 contact material with different addition of graphene nanoplatelets

To improve the welding resistance of Ag-8 wt%SnO2 contact material at large current, the graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) was selected as the additive, and Ag-8 wt%SnO2 contact materials with different GNPs addition were prepared by powder metallurgy route. The electrical contact tests were performed under 36 V/16 A and 36 V/25 A, the welding, material transfer behavior and their mechanism were investigated combined with the analysis of arc duration, arc power and eroded morphology. The results show that 0.2 wt% GNPs addition decreases the welding frequency and welding force significantly, this can be attributed to the arc extinction effect and the weaken effect of the welding area. However, the excessive GNPs addition in turn aggravates the welding, the reason is that excessive GNPs addition weakens the bond between eroded layers, resulting in the decrease of arc stability and the generation of the small protrusion which cause the concentration of the contact stress and the electric field, which further results in the serious welding. Furthermore, 0.2 wt% GNPs addition decreases the mass loss rate, increasing the combination performance of Ag-8 wt%SnO2 contact material.