The Effect of Current on the Lubrication of Sliding Electrical Contacts

1 January 1972

journal article
research article
Published by Taylor & Francis in A S L E Transactions

Vol. 15 (3) , 192-200
https://doi.org/10.1080/05698197208981416

Abstract

This paper describes experiments designed to examine the effects of current on the lubricant properties of electrographite brushes running against slip rings of pure aluminium and stainless steel. The range of current densities carried from 0 to 0.2 A.mm⁻². It is shown that the effects of increasing current are generally beneficial in so far as friction and contact resistance are concerned. However, the wear of the brushes running on aluminium was unacceptably high. The results of these experiments are discussed in terms of the surface topographical changes (revealed by scanning electron microscopy) caused by the passage of current through the contact between the brushes and the slip rings. A mechanism of surface film breakdown with increasing current is postulated as a possible cause of the heavy wear of the brushes running on aluminium.

Keywords

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:

The effect of current on the friction of carbon brush materials
British Journal of Applied Physics, 1964