Investigation of performance and comparative analysis of copper and graphene-layered copper electrical relay contact terminals under various forces and coating thicknesses

This article investigates the performance of both unlayered and layered contact terminal pairs in electrical relays under varying layer thicknesses and applied forces. Using COMSOL Multiphysics software, a 3D model of Copper (Cu) contact terminals was created for analysis. Fillets are used to integrate the effect of contact area in the analysis. The performance of unlayered Cu contact terminal pairs was evaluated across forces ranging from 1 µN to 100 N. Subsequently, the terminals were layered with Graphene (Gr), with thicknesses ranging from 20 μm to 200 μm in 20 μm increments, to study the effect of layer thickness on electrical contact performance. At each thickness, the terminals were subjected to forces varying from 1 µN to 100 N, and parameters such as current density, resistance, temperature, contact pressure, stress, pressure, and displacement were measured and compared. This research compares unlayered Cu contacts to Gr-layered Cu contacts to determine the effect of layer thickness on overall performance.