Tin-plated copper terminal material, terminal and electric wire terminal-end structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10858750-B2
Application number	US-201816633247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2018
Priority date	Jul 28, 2017
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

Providing a tin-plated terminal material with high corrosion-prevention effect and low contact resistance, a terminal formed from the terminal material, and an electric wire terminal-end structure. Provided are a base material made of copper or copper alloy, a zinc layer made of zinc or zinc alloy formed on the base material, and a tin layer made of tin or tin alloy formed on the zinc layer: in a whole of the zinc layer and the tin layer, a tin amount per unit area is 0.30 mg/cm 2 to 7.00 mg/cm 2 inclusive, a zinc amount per unit area is 0.07 mg/cm 2 to 2.00 mg/cm 2 inclusive, a content percentage of zinc in a vicinity of a surface in the tin layer is 0.2% to 10% by mass inclusive, and a length proportion of low-angle grain boundaries occupied in a total length of crystal boundaries in the tin layer is 2% to 30% inclusive.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tin-plated copper terminal material comprising:
a base material made of copper or copper alloy;
a zinc layer made of zinc alloy, formed on the base material; and
a tin layer made of tin alloy, formed on the zinc layer, wherein
in a whole of the zinc layer and the tin layer, a tin amount per unit area is not less than 0.30 mg/cm 2 and not more than 7.00 mg/cm 2 , and a zinc amount per unit area is not less than 0.07 mg/cm 2 and not more than 2.00 mg/cm 2 ;
a content percentage of zinc in a vicinity of a surface in the tin layer is not less than 0.2% by mass and not more than 10.0% by mass; and
a proportion of a length occupied by a low-angle grain boundaries to a total length of all crystal grain boundaries in the tin layer is not less than 2% and not more than 30%.

2. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , wherein a corrosion potential to a silver-silver chloride electrode is not more than −500 mV and not less than −900 mV.

3. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , wherein
at least one of the tin layer or the zinc layer contains any one or more of nickel, iron, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt, cadmium or lead as additive elements,
an amount of the additive elements per unit area in the whole of the zinc layer and the tin layer is not less than 0.01 mg/cm 2 and not more than 0.30 mg/cm 2 .

4. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , wherein an average crystal grain size in the tin layer is not less than 0.5 μm and not more than 8.0 μm.

5. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , wherein the zinc amount per unit area is one to ten times of the amount of the additive elements per unit area.

6. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , further comprising a metallic-zinc layer on the tin layer, having a zinc density not less than 5 at. % and not more than 40 at. % and a thickness not less than 1 nm and not more than 10 nm in terms of SiO 2 .

7. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , wherein an undercoat layer made of nickel or nickel alloy, having a thickness not less than 0.1 μm and not more than 5 μm and a nickel content percentage not less than 80% by mass is provided between the base material and the zinc layer.

8. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 , comprising
a carrier part having a belt-sheet shape; and
terminal parts arranged along a longitudinal direction of the carrier part with an interval and connected to the carrier part.

9. A terminal formed from the tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 2 .

10. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the tin layer or the zinc layer contains any one or more of nickel, iron, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt, cadmium or lead as additive elements,
an amount of the additive elements per unit area in the whole of the zinc layer and the tin layer is not less than 0.01 mg/cm 2 and not more than 0.30 mg/cm 2 .

11. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 10 , wherein an average crystal grain size in the tin layer is not less than 0.5 μm and not more than 8.0 μm.

12. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 10 , wherein the zinc amount per unit area is one to ten times of the amount of the additive elements per unit area.

13. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 10 , further comprising a metallic-zinc layer on the tin layer, having a zinc density not less than 5 at. % and not more than 40 at. % and a thickness not less than 1 nm and not more than 10 nm in terms of SiO 2 .

14. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , wherein an average crystal grain size in the tin layer is not less than 0.5 μm and not more than 8.0 μm.

15. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , wherein the zinc amount per unit area is one to ten times of the amount of the additive elements per unit area.

16. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , further comprising a metallic-zinc layer on the tin layer, having a zinc density not less than 5 at. % and not more than 40 at. % and a thickness not less than 1 nm and not more than 10 nm in terms of SiO 2 .

17. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , wherein an undercoat layer made of nickel or nickel alloy, having a thickness not less than 0.1 μm and not more than 5 μm and a nickel content percentage not less than 80% by mass is provided between the base material and the zinc layer.

18. The tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 , comprising
a carrier part having a belt-sheet shape; and
terminal parts arranged along a longitudinal direction of the carrier part with an interval and connected to the carrier part.

19. A terminal formed from the tin-plated copper terminal material according to claim 1 .

20. An electric wire terminal-end structure wherein the terminal according to claim 19 is crimped to an electric wire comprising a conductive wire made of aluminum or aluminum alloy.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Materials Corp

Inventors

• Kubota Kenji
• Tarutani Yoshie
• Tamagawa Takashi
• Nakaya Kiyotaka

Classifications

• C25D7/00

  Electroplating characterised by the article coated · CPC title

• H01R4/62

  Connections between conductors of different materials; Connections between or with aluminium or steel-core aluminium conductors (H01R4/68 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01R4/18

  by crimping {(H01R4/01, H01R4/2495 take precedence; for coaxial cables H01R9/0518)} · CPC title

• C25D5/605

  Surface topography of the layers, e.g. rough, dendritic or nodular layers · CPC title

• C25D5/617

  Crystalline layers · CPC title