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Re: silver oxidation

Arcing has nothing to do with the material, is caused by voltage being high enough to ionize air molecules by stripping them of electrons causing a conductive path. This will invariably happen in circuits where the load is inductive when they are opened because current in an inductor cannot be changed instantaneously (L di/dt cannot become infinity.) Silver, gold, even platinum are used on relay contacts because their tendency to oxidize is lower. But once oxidation of silver or any non conductive deposit on the contacts does occur to any significant degree, it will cause resistive heating accelerating ultimate contact failure. This is why the plating is usually so heavy and why normal maintenance requires them to be cleaned with an abrasive material removing the deposits.


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  • Re: silver oxidation - Soundmind 14:11:45 08/27/06 (0)


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