Silver, Palladium and Gold based electrical contact materials
Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals at room temperature. For that reason, it is used in the electrotechnical industry for switches, relays and contacts.
In the picture you can see typical Sintered Silver Cadmium Oxide contact tips.
The addition of other elements such as copper, nickel and other “metal oxides” improve it’s current carrying capacity and prevent it from welding to itself in high current applications.
Silver copper alloys and silver with low contents of nickels are true alloys and can be produced by traditional smelting processes. The addition of higher percentages of nickel and metal oxides and other elemental additions such as Tin Oxide (sometimes with additions of Indium or Bismuth Oxides), Cadmium Oxide, Iron Oxide and Zinc Oxide requires more complex techniques to make these “pseudo alloys”.
Palladium silver alloy are used in low current applications where corrosion resistance is important. IPM supplies many 1000s of Ag/Pd rivets and contacts in different grades – typically Ag95Pd, Ag70Pd30 and Ag60Pd40 alloys.
The image shows 69% gold alloy parts used in an aerospace micromotor.
Gold alloys such as Au95Ni5, Au62.5AgCu, and others are used when there are demanding applications or maybe corrosive operating environments.
Products are available in many forms (dependant on material properties). For example, wire, strip, profiles, inlay, onlay or thrulay strips, rivets — solid, bimetal or trimetal, patches, tips and many other bespoke forms.
Brazing alloys and fluxes
Silver and its alloys have been used since Egyptian times to join many materials. In order to join modern complex materials and their alloys, a huge and sophisticated range of precious metal brazing alloys have been developed to provide joining solutions for most applications and environments.
Pictured to the left are Silver Tin solder "rivets" used in the electronics industry.
IPM can supply silver, gold and palladium based brazing alloys. Silver brazing alloys and copper phosphorus brazing alloys suitable for general engineering. Bronze alloys for rock drills and mining tools.
High purity silver, gold and palladium based brazing alloys suitable for vacuum brazing applications. Depending on suitability, these are available as wire, foil, strip, powder, paste, flux coated rods, flux cored wires and performs.
On the right you can see some typical high silver braze alloy washers
With over 30 years working in the brazing industry, IPM can provide technical assistance to determine the correct filler metal, brazing flux or braze atmosphere and suggest the best heating method to suit the application.
Precious metals and alloys for sliding and wiper contacts
Sliding and wiper contacts for slip rings, rheostats, potentiometers and commutators. Typical applications include CCTV camera, gimbals, periscopes, rotating radars and tank turretts.
Typical preformed brush wipers are shown to the left.
IPM can provide gold, silver, palladium and platinum alloys supplied in wires, strips, rings and preformed springs to suit each individual customer requirements.
High purity precious metals
Precious metals and their alloys, including silver, gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium and others are supplied in many forms and either as pure metals or alloyed. IPM supplies in fine and ultra fine wire, rod, sheet, foil, strip, powder, sponge and pastes.
These materials generally find their use in highly demanding and technical applications, where their various properties are exploited.
IPM also supplies precious and some non-precious materials in a variety of forms for assay reference samples – used in assaying mine samples and similar fields.
Silver Tungsten, Copper Tungsten, Silver Tungsten Carbide and other Refractory Metals
Tantalum, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Silver Tungsten, Copper Tungsten, Tungsten Heavy alloys. These materials are used in a plethora of different products and industries. Some examples are Welding, High temperature components, Balance weights, Electrical contacts, Shielding in Nuclear Medicine, Parts for corrosive environments and many more. Please see our data sheets attached
Other materials and applications
IPM has built a reputation for being able to find “hard to source” materials or processes – we have developed a wide knowledge of suppliers, manufacturers and subcontractors that enable us to offer our customers a complete service.
Pictured on the right are some parts machined from Stainless steel
So, although not in our usual remit of precious metal products, this has lead to us supplying brass assembled or brazed components, stainless steel turned parts, turned rivets made from solder, magnesium strips, aluminium sheets and copper electrodes – amongst others.
So, if you are looking for a material or product you can’t find – let us see if we can help you.