Fretting effect on gold-plated and tin-plated surfaces

Effect of fretting on gold-plated and tin-plated contacts has been studied. In addition to contact resistance measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray energy spectroscopy (XES) were used to study the contact zone. The fretting tests were carried out with a simulated contact apparatus at a frequency of oscillation of 0.003 Hz, micro-displacement of 30 μm. The results show that appropriate water soluble lubricant could reduce the wear of gold plating during certain number of fretting cycles and lubricant 9300 could effectively improve contact resistance behavior on tin-plated surface during fretting.