SILVER-COATED STAINLESS STEEL STRIP FOR MOVABLE CONTACT, AND ITS PRODUCTION METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a silver-coated stainless steel strip capable obtaining a long-life movable contact in high yield. SOLUTION: The silver-coated stainless steel strip for a movable contact has a 0.01-0.1μm thick nickel substrate formed at least on a part of the surface of a stainless steel base material and activated by keeping at 40-90°C for≥3 sec, a 0.05-0.2μm thick intermediate layer comprising at least one kind of nickel, a nickel alloy, copper and a copper alloy on the nickel substrate after activated and an outermost layer containing silver or a silver alloy and formed on the intermediate layer. Because the silver coated stainless steel is manufactured by a conventional method except the activation treatment of the nickel layer at 40-90°C for≥3 sec, high productivity is attained. The activation temperature is kept by heat produced by the electric resistance of a stainless steel with current used for the plating pre-treatment including the formation of the nickel layer to make the cost low. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT