The relationship between surface wear and contact resistance during the fretting of in-vivo electrical contacts

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Description/Abstract

A study of the high frequency intermittency events occurring
during the fretting of contact surfaces used for in-vivo electronic
systems, is presented. The emphasis of the study is to determine
and the relationship between the contact resistance during
the fretting process and to relate this to surface wear, as a function
of the applied force. The emphasis is on fretting experiments in the
crossed rod configuration with a range of contact forces, between
1.75 and 0.05 N.
An established test system and test methodology are used for the
study, but in the paper the additional control of the contact force
and the measurement of the surface wear using a 3-D surface scanning
system is introduced. The level of the applied voltage and current
are critical in defining the intermittency events; in this study
a dry circuit test, with 20 mV and 100 mA supply is used. The results
show that for the materials used, intermittency events occur
during every fretting cycle after an initial settling period; that the
contact force level is directly coupled to the wear in-line with established
theory; and that the minimum contact resistance is linked to
the established relationship with force.