Clustering and the spatial distribution of contact spots at a real un-dismantled electrical contact interface

J Swingler (1)

1 School of Engineering Sciences

Contact maps of an electrical interface are acquired using an X-Ray Computer Tomography (CT) technique without the need for dismantling the specimens. These maps consist of approximately 1500 x 1500 pixels with each pixel relating to an 8.0µm by 8.0µm by 8.0µm volume at the interface. The specimens consist of bolting a cable lug to a printed circuit board at various contact normal forces of between 0.8 – 3.2 kN. The contact maps reveal a complex network of contacting " islands " with meandering perimeters consisting of contacting " peninsulas " and non-contacting " fjords ". The fractal characteristics of the spot spatial distribution show similar behaviour to the fractal characteristics of the spot size distribution.

Mots clés: . Contact; contact maps; clustering; X-ray tomography.; Contact; X-ray tomography

J Swingler. Clustering and the spatial distribution of contact spots at a real un-dismantled electrical contact interface. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2010, 43 (14), pp.145302. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/43/14/145302⟩. ⟨hal-00569572⟩