Semi-finished contact products

Your specialist for contact semi-finished products

Electrical contacts in switching applications are responsible for closing and opening circuits. When closed, they are designed to ensure the transmission of information and currents with minimum losses. Thanks to their advantageous material properties, contact materials made of silver and silver alloys are therefore used here. Our assortment of silver-based semi-finished contact products ranges from wires and profiles to contact facings. As a global market leader for electrical contact materials, our semi-finished contact products are used worldwide in a wide range of applications.

Fields of application

Lighting systems
Information and data systems
Automotive electrics
Automation engineering
Automatic control science and technology
Low-voltage power engineering
Installation technology
All types of household appliances

Wires

Our wires are made from silver and silver alloys (e.g. AgNi0.15, AgCu3, AgPd30) and powder-metallurgical silver-based materials (e.g. Ag/Ni, Ag/SnO₂, Ag/ZnO). They are a high-quality starting product for the manufacture of various contacts and contact parts. This is done by extrusion and subsequent drawing and annealing processes. All the technologies shown are provided in varying degrees of vertical integration. Typical wire diameters and tolerances are between 0.5 ± 0.01 mm and 4.5 ± 0.04 mm.

Profiles

Profiles are used as reliable contact elements and are therefore used in relays, switches, push buttons, miniature motors and actuators. Profiles consist of a solid contact material or are made up of several layers of precious metal and base metal.

ADVANTAGES OF THE APPLICATION

Savings on precious metals: Costs can be optimised by adjusting the contact size and layer thickness of the precious metal contact material within narrow dimensional tolerances.
Design options: Profiles can be customized in terms of shape and material combination - depending on the application.
ECost-effectiveness: Profiles can be used for seam welding in the rolling direction of carrier strip material or for horizontal welding of profile and strip segments.

Contact facings

Contact plates and moulded contact parts are frequently used in power engineering switchgear, often by welding or soldering them to the respective contact carrier. They are manufactured using different processes, depending on the contact material.