Mechanical Characterisation and Optimisation of Carbon Nanotube Composite Surfaces for Electrical Contact

摘要

The lifetimes of electrical contacts are limited due to contact degradation during switching. The use of a compliant subsurface of vertically aligned CNT's, coated with a gold conductive film has been demonstrated as a method to significantly improve contact area, performance and lifetime. The compliance and mechanical properties of the composite surfaces, with varying compositions of CNT lengths and gold film thickness are investigated by nanoindentation techniques. The characterization of the composite in terms of ratio of the CNT length and gold thickness is considered. The effect of the surfaces composition on the dynamic properties and performance are also investigated, by dynamic impulse testing. The result is that the mechanics of the surface follow behaviours not necessarily associated with layered composites.