Simulation and experimental study on the properties of Fe, Y co‐doped AgSnO₂ contact materials

Abstract

With the aims of environmental protection, manufacturing cost, and reliability of contact materials, we calculate the electrical and mechanical properties of single‐doped and co‐doped SnO2 contact materials based on density functional theory using the Materials Studio software. By analyzing the energy band, density of states, and elastic constants, our results show that co‐doping leads to stronger interactions among the different atoms, resulting in the highest relative conductivity, decrease in hardness, smallest index of universal elastic anisotropy, good processing performance, and the highest crack resistance. Finally, in the experiment, single and co‐doped SnO2 powders were prepared by the sol–gel technique, and single and co‐doped AgSnO2 contacts were prepared by powder metallurgy. The arcing energy, contact resistance, and the actual conductivity and hardness were measured. The results of simulation and experiment match well. It is of great significance to promote environmental protection, low cost, and high reliability of AgSnO2 contacts. © 2019 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.