Electric contacts. II. Mechanics of closure for gold contacts

Abstract
We describe equipment and report results of a study of the mechanics of closure for gold electric contacts cleaned by sputtering and closed with precise control of mechanical and environmental variables. The ultrahigh‐vacuum system, in which measurements are performed, is isolated from building vibrations. Our measurements include contact resistance, load, cold welding, creep, anelastic strain recovery, stress strain, yield stress, and strain hardening. We calculated an activation energy of 1200 ± 100 cal/mole for low‐temperature creep in gold.

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