Study on the Mechanical Alloying Process for Preparing Ag/LSCO Electrical Contact Material

The mechanical alloying process for preparing Ag/LSCO electrical contact materials were explored, and process parameters were optimized, such as reaction environment, process control agent types and dosage, high-energy ball milling time and the composition of Ag@LSCO intermediate composite particles. The results show that Ag/LSCO electrical contact sheet with compact structure were successfully achieved, when the reaction environment is air, 3wt% PEG6000 was employed as process control agent, the high energy ball milling time is 40 h, and the Ag@LSCO intermediate composite particles were made of Ag and LSCO powders with mass ratio of 80:20. More importantly, the density, Vickers hardness and resistivity of Ag/LSCO electrical contact sheet all met or exceeded the requirements for practical application. Consequently, this study can provide a significant reference for industrial production of Ag/LSCO and other environmentally friendly silver-based electrical contact materials.