Comparison of properties of silver-tin oxide electrical contact materials through different processing routes

Abstract

In the present work silver-tin oxide (Ag-SnO₂) electrical contact materials have been prepared by different processing techniques, viz., powder metallurgy (P/M), internal oxidation (I/O) and internal oxidation of alloyed powders (IOAP). The influence of processing routes on the physical properties such as electrical conductivity, density and microstructure of these Ag-SnO₂ composite materials are compared. The microstructural study reveals that internal oxidation (I/O) technique provides most uniform structure.