Study of Electrical Contact under AC and Nonlinear Conditions
Abstract
Electrical contact is an important issue to high power microwave sources, pulsed power systems, field emitters, thin film devices and integrated circuits, and interconnects, etc. Current flowing from one piece of material to a neighboring piece always encounters current constriction at the contacting points, either by design or by the intrinsic roughness of the contacting surfaces. This gives rise to contact resistance. Contact resistance, and the enhanced ohmic heating that results, have been treated mostly under steady state (DC) condition. Based on the extensive theoretical investigations of DC contact resistance by the investigator and his students and colleagues, this proposal extends the study to AC condition, and possibly to pulsed condition, in the evaluation of contact resistance. Various geometries, including thin film contact and bulk contact, will be analyzed. Vastly different electrical resistivity in the contacting members will be allowed. Nonlinear ohmic heating and thermal instabilities, due to the temperature dependence of electrical and thermal conductivities, will be analyzed for a conducting wire under AC voltage excitation. Analytic and numerical calculations will be performed, with the aim of developing scaling laws. Collaborations with colleagues at the Air Force Research Laboratory, and at other universities, are anticipated, similar to the investigator’s prior study of electrical contact under DC condition.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 09, 2018
- Source ID
- FA95501810153
Entities
People
- Y. Y. Lau
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Michigan