Eroded Switching Contact Surface

This is the contact area of a switching contact that had undergone several thousand switching operations. (2.15 x 2.15 mm - 216 x 216 data points). The data was acquired with a Xyris 4000 (confocal laser).

The data can be used to determine the level of erosion of the contact surface. An example is given here.

Fretting on a Connector Surface

This connector contact has undergone a fretting experiment. The contact plating has clearly been displaced (1.8 x 0.6 mm - 361 x 201 data points measured). The data was acquired with a Xyris 4000 (confocal laser).

Metallised Particles Interconnect

This photo shows an MPI (Metallised Particles Interconnect) for IC connection.

It was scanned using a Xyris 4000 (confocal laser) and the data is displayed below. Because the substrate is translucent, it could not be measured with a triangulation laser. The data set has 251 x 251 points over an area of 5.0 x 5.0 mm.

The figure below shows a single contact with 251 x 251 data points over an area of 1.0 x 1.0 mm.

Contactor of an Electric Vehicle

This is one of the electrical contacts of a contactor in an electric vehicle. The contact surface shows signs of melting (20 x 20 mm - 201 x 201 data points measured). The data was acquired with a Xyris 3000 (triangulation laser).

Scratch on an Electrical Contact

This image shows a scratch of 4 micron depth on an electrical contact (200 x 200 µm - 300 x 300 data points measured). The data was acquired with a Xyris 4000.

Electrical Contact

This image shows the surface of a tin-plated electrical contact (250 x 250 µm – 126 x 126 data points measured). The flattened, nearly circular area with a diameter of about 220 µm in the centre was caused by the contact with a hard, smooth surface. It illustrates flattening of the asperities under contact. We have used the Xyris 4000 with a con-focal laser to acquire the data.