Current status and developing trends of Cu-Cr contact materials for VCB

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the Cu-Cr materials which are widely adopted for contacts in medium-voltage, high current vacuum circuit breakers (VCB). It is shown that microstructure is a strategic link between the processing and properties of the contact materials, and why the quality and performance of Cn-Cr alloy contact materials are superior to that of CuCr p/m contact materials.