Electrical and thermal conduction

Pure silver has a brilliant white metallic luster. It is a little harder than gold and is very ductile and malleable, being exceeded only by gold and perhaps palladium. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, and possesses the lowest contact resistance. It is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur. The alloys of silver are important. 

Copper is universally used as the metal plating for tape because it can be easily laminated with copper and the various plastic tapes. Copper is readily etched and has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity in both electrodeposited and roUed-annealed form. The tape metal plating is normally gold- or tin-plated to ensure good bondabiUty during inner- and outer-lead bonding operations and to provide better shelf life and corrosion resistance. 

Silver s advantageous physical, chemical, electrical, and thermal conductive properties are used ia a variety of alloys. For example, (/) a 3.5% Ag,... 

Solders. In spite of the wide use and development of solders for millennia, as of the mid-1990s most principal solders are lead- or tin-based alloys to which a small amount of silver, zinc, antimony, bismuth, and indium or a combination thereof are added. The principal criterion for choosing a certain solder is its melting characteristics, ie, soHdus and Hquidus temperatures and the temperature spread or pasty range between them. Other criteria are mechanical properties such as strength and creep resistance, physical properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistance. 

Acetylene black is very pure with a carbon content of 99.7%. It has a surface area of about 65 m /g, an average particle diameter of 40 nm, and a very high but rather weak stmcture with a DBPA value of 250 mL/100 g. It is the most crystalline or graphitic of the commercial blacks. These unique features result in high electrical and thermal conductivity, low moisture absorption, and high Hquid absorption. 

Fig. 8. Comparison of electrical and thermal conductivity of PAN- and pitch-based carbon fiber to metals, where P = pitch, T = Thornel, and...

The high electrical and thermal conductivities and corrosion resistance of copper combined with its workabiUty give the metal its very wide range of commercial appHcations. Unlike most metals, which are alloyed with other elements to enhance properties, for example, alloy steel and aluminum, copper is primarily used in its pure, unalloyed form. 

Copper is primarily alloyed to increase strength, however, electrical and thermal conductivities, corrosion resistance, formabiUty, and color are also strongly affected by alloying. Elements typically added to copper are 2inc, tin, nickel, iron, aluminum, siUcon, chromium, and beryUium. 

Eig. 5. The Wiedemann-Eran2 relationship at 20°C between electrical and thermal conductivities of copper alloys having moderate to high conductivities. 

The outstanding properties of copper-base materials are high electrical and thermal conductivity, good durabihty in mildly corrosive chemical environments and excellent ductility for forming complex shapes. As a relatively weak material, copper is often alloyed with zinc (brasses), tin (bronzes), aluminum and nickel to improve its mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. 

The solid metals all have the fee structure, like their predecessors in the periodic table, Ni, Pd and Pt, and they continue the trend of diminishing mp and bp. They are soft, and extremely malleable and ductile, gold more so than any other metal. One gram of gold can be beaten out into a sheet of 1.0m only 230 atoms thick (i.e. 1 cm to 18 m ) likewise Ig Au can be drawn into 165 m of wire of diameter 20/um. The electrical and thermal conductances of the... 

If now the physical properties of the body (e.g., thermal expansion, compressibility, refractive index, electric and thermal conductivities, dielectric constant, and magnetic permeability) are measured along OPi, OP2, OP,. .. we find that all the bodies fall into one or other of two large groups —... 

By the term particulate composites we are referring to composites reinforced with particles having dimensions of the same order of magnitude. Particulate composites are produced from a polymeric matrix, into which a suitable metal powder has been dispersed, and exhibit highly improved mechanical properties, better electrical and thermal conductivity than either phase, lower thermal expansivity, and improved dimensional stability and behaviour at elevated temperatures. 

Homogeneous alloys of metals with atoms of similar radius are substitutional alloys. For example, in brass, zinc atoms readily replace copper atoms in the crystalline lattice, because they are nearly the same size (Fig. 16.41). However, the presence of the substituted atoms changes the lattice parameters and distorts the local electronic structure. This distortion lowers the electrical and thermal conductivity of the host metal, but it also increases hardness and strength. Coinage alloys are usually substitutional alloys. They are selected for durability—a coin must last for at least 3 years—and electrical resistance so that genuine coins can be identified by vending machines. 

The refractory-metal borides have a structure which is dominated by the boron configuration. This clearly favors the metallic properties, such as high electrical and thermal conductivities and high hardness. Chemical stability, which is related to the electronic... 

The free-electron gas was first applied to a metal by A. Sommerfeld (1928) and this application is also known as the Sommerfeld model. Although the model does not give results that are in quantitative agreement with experiments, it does predict the qualitative behavior of the electronic contribution to the heat capacity, electrical and thermal conductivity, and thermionic emission. The reason for the success of this model is that the quantum effects due to the antisymmetric character of the electronic wave function are very large and dominate the effects of the Coulombic interactions. 

The majority of the materials we use and handle every day are solid. We take advantage of their physical properties in manifold ways. The properties are intimately related to the structures. In the following we will deal only briefly with a few properties that are directly connected with some structural aspects. Many other properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity, optical transparency and reflectivity, color, luminescence etc. require the discussion of sophisticated theories that are beyond the scope of this book. 

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