Researchers from the University of Connecticut, along with engineers from United Technologies Research Center, have been working on the development of a new type of alloy materials that behaves like gold and is resistant to oxidation.
In most electronic applications, manufacturers use precious metals like gold, platinum, rhodium, silver and palladium, and the problem is that even if they are used in very small quantities, these materials are very expensive.
This new class of alloy materials has the same efficiency and should replace the use of these expensive precious metals.
Gold and other metals of close value, are used because they are excellent conductors and also because they resist to oxidation and corrosion.
The problem is that today, the price of gold has reached $1,340 per ounce, and this forces manufacturers worldwide, Connecticut's United Technologies Corporation (UTC) included, to look for a cheaper alternative.
Mark Aindow and S. Pamir Alpay, professors of materials science and engineering at the University of Connecticut, along with Joseph Mantese, a United Technologies Research Center Fellow, have been working on this new class of materials, that act like gold and its counterparts when they are exposed to corrosive and oxidizing environments, that would normally degrade common metals.
The researchers have tested copper, iron and nickel (cheap materials that could do the job), and have concluded that there is a way of enhancing their electrical contact resistance.
Coming up with this less costly but equally durable and effective new alloy was very important, and after establishing the theoretical parameters, they have experimented and proven their theory.
“We used a combination of theoretical analysis to select the appropriate constituents, and materials engineering at the atomic level to create designer materials,” said Aindow.
They developed three processes through which they reached a higher conductivity native oxide scale in these alloys: inducing mixed oxidation states to give electron/polaron hopping, doping to enhance carrier concentration and/or phase separation for conducting pathways.
This research has managed to improve contact resistance up to one-million-fold that of pure base metals, allowing base metal contacts to be prepared with contact properties near those of pure gold.
The research was funded by a grant from the US Army Research Office, and it appeared online in the October 12th issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters.
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