Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
(OP)
We are struggling to find a suitable cleaning agent for Gold flashed contacts used in our electronic switches for a particular application.
We currently are using 99.7% pure Ethanol which seems to be causing problems during tempreture/humidity cycling (85% RH) of the switching unit during life tests. Small dark patches appear on the gold contact pill surface.
My suspicions are around the lack of purity in the Ethanol i.e. there are traces of Water, Methanol & Iso-propanol.
Has anyone got any idea what we may be seeing and how we could solve it?
We currently are using 99.7% pure Ethanol which seems to be causing problems during tempreture/humidity cycling (85% RH) of the switching unit during life tests. Small dark patches appear on the gold contact pill surface.
My suspicions are around the lack of purity in the Ethanol i.e. there are traces of Water, Methanol & Iso-propanol.
Has anyone got any idea what we may be seeing and how we could solve it?





RE: Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
TTFN
RE: Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
The main material is CU (0.1mm)
RE: Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
So maybe, the ethanol is providing an accelerated corrosion test that may save you from parts failures months later, out in customers parts.
I'm not sure of the testing conditions, but you cannot expect ethanol to not absorb water in high humidity.
Consider palladium plating instead of gold.
RE: Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
TTFN
RE: Suitable cleaning agent for gold switch contacts
Plesae read FAQ240-1032
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