A plated copper alloy material and process for production thereof

摘要

A plated copper alloy material for connecting terminals is provided which comprises a parent material of copper or copper alloy, a nickel layer and a copper-tin alloy layer. The nickel layer has a thickness of 0.1-1.0 mu m. The copper-tin alloy layer has a thickness of 0.1-1.0 mu m and contains 35-75 at% of copper. The material may additionally have a tin layer no thicker than 0.5 mu m for an engaging type terminal containing 0.001-0.1 mass% of carbon, or thicker than 0.5 mu m for a non-engaging type connector. The material meets requirements for capability of insertion with a small force, good electric reliability (due to low contact resistance) in a high-temperature atmosphere, workability for sharp bending without cracking, good solder wettability and good corrosion resistance to sulfur dioxide gas.