Modelling of Lubricated Electrical Contacts

Abstract

Electrical contacts, although critically important for a wide range of applications, are susceptible to degradation due to fretting corrosion, especially when sliding and vibrations occur. To overcome fretting corrosion and sliding wear, lubricants are often used. However, the use of lubricants can cause other detrimental issues. Lubricants usually consist of non-conductive fluids such as hydrocarbons and fluorocarbons. Due to fluid dynamics, when sliding, vibration or other excitation occurs, these fluids can cause prolonged gaps between the conducting metal surfaces. Practically, this has been observed in data centers where vibrations due to technician maintenance or even earthquakes can occur. Depending on the viscosity and roughness of the surfaces, the time it takes these connector surfaces to return to solid conductive contact can be many seconds or longer. This work uses a novel theoretical model of the coupled fluid and solid mechanics between the rough metallic surfaces to evaluate these intermittent breaks in contact due to sliding. The influence of variation in lubricant properties, roughness, contact radius and contact force are considered by the model.