Connector terminal

• US 20030186597A1
• Filed: 03/10/2003
• Published: 10/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Shindoh Company Limited (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Shindoh Company Limited (Mitsubishi Materials Corporation)
• Inventors: Satoh, Shinei, Suzuki, Takeshi, Mori, Akihito, Sakakibara, Tadao
• Application Number:
  US10/385,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20030186597A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/886
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/03 characterised by the material, e.g. plating, or coating materials

Abstract

The connector terminal of the present invention is a connector terminal fabricated with a plated Cu alloy thin plate and is provided with a pair of mutually engaging male terminal 1 and female terminal 2; wherein, in a mutually sliding portion of the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 2, the Vickers hardness of one of the terminals is within the range of 60-700 HV, the Vickers hardness of the other terminal is within the range of 20-150 HV, and the difference between the Vickers hardness values of both is 15 HV or more. As a result, together with having stable contact resistance, both low insertion and removal force as well as superior heat resistance can be obtained.

Claims

1. A connector terminal comprising a plated Cu alloy thin plate and provided with a pair of mutually engaging male and female terminals;

wherein, in a mutually sliding portion of the male terminal and the female terminal, the Vickers hardness of one of the terminals is within the range of 60-700 HV, the Vickers hardness of the other terminal is within the range of 20-150 HV, and the difference between the Vickers hardness values of both is 15 HV or more.

2. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, in a mutually sliding portion of the male terminal and the female terminal, the Vickers hardness of one of the terminals is within the range of 80-300 HV, the Vickers hardness of the other terminal is within the range of 40-150 HV, and the difference between the Vickers hardness values of both is 20 HV or more.

3. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, in a mutually sliding portion of the male terminal and the female terminal, the Vickers hardness of one of the terminals is within the range of 100-250 HV, the Vickers hardness of the other terminal is within the range of 40-130 HV, and the difference between the Vickers hardness values of both is 30 HV or more.

4. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, in a mutually sliding portion of the male terminal and the female terminal, the Vickers hardness of one of the terminals is within the range of 120-250 HV, the Vickers hardness of the other terminal is within the range of 40-110 HV, and the difference between the Vickers hardness values of both is 50 HV or more.

5. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, the terminal having the higher Vickers hardness is the male terminal, while the terminal having the lower Vickers hardness is the female terminal.

6. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with a metal thin plate in which the surface of a base material of a Cu alloy is subjected to plating treatment containing one type or two or more types of metals selected from the group consisting of Sn, Cu, Ag, Ni, Pb, Zn, P, B;

Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Pd, Pt, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, In, C, S, Au, Al, Si, Sb, Bi and Te.

7. The connector terminal according to claim 6 wherein, the plating treatment is Sn alloy plating treatment in which the remainder other than the selected one type or two or more types of metals is comprised of Sn.

8. The connector terminal according to claim 7 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal contains 0.01-75% by mass of the selected one type or two or more types of metals.

9. The connector terminal according to claim 8 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with a Cu alloy thin plate subjected to Cu—

Sn alloy plating treatment containing 0.1-10% by mass of Cu and in which the remainder is comprised of Sn and unavoidable impurities.

10. The connector terminal according to claim 8 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with a Cu alloy thin plate subjected to Ni—

Sn alloy plating treatment containing 0.1-40% by mass of Ni, and in which the remainder is comprised of Sn and unavoidable impurities.

11. The connector terminal according to claim 8 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with a Cu alloy thin plate subjected to Ag—

Sn alloy plating treatment containing 0.1-10% by mass of Ag, and in which the remainder is comprised of Sn and unavoidable impurities.

12. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate of Sn plating obtained by Sn electroplating, Sn electroplating subjected to reflow treatment or hot dipping either directly or via a Cu layer onto a base material of Cu alloy.

13. The connector terminal according to claim 1 wherein, the terminal having the harder Vickers hardness is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate in which a pure Sn layer is formed either directly or via a Cu layer on a base material of a Cu alloy, and the pure Sn layer and the base material or the Cu layer are mutually thermally diffused to form a Cu—

Sn alloy layer by heat treatment until the thickness of said pure Sn layer becomes less than 0.6 μ

m.

14. The connecter terminal according to claim 13 wherein, said connector terminal is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate in which the Cu—

Sn alloy layer is formed by heat treatment until the thickness of the pure Sn layer becomes less than 0.3 μ

m.

15. The connector terminal according to claim 13 wherein, said connector terminal is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate in which the Cu—

Sn alloy layer is formed by heat treatment until the thickness of the pure Sn layer becomes 0.

16. The connector terminal according to claim 13 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate in which the Cu—

Sn alloy layer is formed by reflow treatment of an electroplated Sn-plated bar.

17. The connector terminal according to claim 13 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is fabricated with an Sn-plated Cu alloy thin plate in which the Cu—

Sn alloy layer is formed by pre-annealing an electroplated Sn-plated bar, reflow-treated Sn-plated bar or hot-dipped Sn-plated bar.

18. The connector terminal according to claim 6 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is press formed.

19. The connector terminal according to claim 18 wherein, at least one of the male terminal and the female terminal is subjected to the plating treatment after the press forming.