A contact resistance measurement setup for the study of novel contacts

Abstract

Contacts are a key component of most modern electrical and electronic systems, they are found in connectors, switches and relays. Recently it has been proposed the usage of new composite materials in contacts; this demands the study and characterization of these materials to assess their performance. From the electrical perspective, the most important aspect is the resistance and its variations due to mechanical and chemical phenomena. The measurement of contact resistance carries some challenges due to the low values to be measured and the limitations imposed by dry circuit testing. In this article, we present a setup suitable for making low resistance measurements as those found on electrical contacts.