The possibility of using three kinds of new type composite materials as material for high speed sliding contacts was investigated. The results of this investigation were compared with the results of the low speed tests that were reported earlier. As a result of the above, it was discovered that for high speed rotation in the range from 0.014 m/s to 2 m/s, the order of merit did not significantly change. Based on this, it was concluded that if solid lubricant is effectively supplied to the sliding surface, the influence by frictional heat generated by high speed is slight. Of the three kinds of composite material, it was clarified that composite material (CMML-1) had the lowest contact resistance and Composite Material (CMML-3) had the lowest maximum frictional coefficient of friction. 'CM' and 'ML' are initialisms for 'Composite Material' and 'Material of Lubrication' respectively. The number that is attached to the material name is a numeric value that was set by this laboratory.

The author prepared new composition of Cu-Sn based composite materials containing lamellar solid lubricants, and measured their performance with focus on contact resistance and the coefficient of friction using a low-speed tribo-meter. Among three kinds of composite materials, the composite material containing 26wt.% of total solid lubricants was lower in both of contact resistance and the coefficient of friction and showed stable characteristics compared with those containing 25wt.% and 35wt.% respectively. The author analyzed the characteristics of these materials using several techniques including BSE image, element analysis through EPMA, and mapping analysis, and examined why the composite material containing 26wt.% of total solid lubricants showed higher performance.

Development of new sliding contact, usable under sever conditions such as high-temperature, extremely low-temperature or high vacuum, has recently become an urgent necessity. This research mainly examined the contact resistance and coefficient of friction of 3 kinds of self-lubricant composite materials with electrical conductivity and mechanical stiffness. The result showed that a composite material (CMML-1) containing the least quantity of solid lubricants [WS2, Gr.(Graphite)] among them was low in both contact resistance and coefficient of friction and less in fluctuation. By EPMA analysis, contribution of Sn to electrical conductivity was suggested.

In recent years, sliding electric contacts came to be often used under very severe conditions such as high temperature, extremely low temperature, high vacuum, etc. Conventionally, solid lubricants having excellent properties in lubricating performance are generally used compositely with a metal of high electric conductivity, because of their high electrical resistivity. In the present study, we proved that more excellent sliding electrical contacts can be produced with a design made by controlling the distribution on contact surface of a solid lubricant having excellent lubricating performance and of a metal with high electric conductivity through expansion of Greenwood's theory.

The applicability of composite materials containing laminar solid lubricants to sliding contacts was studied. Performances of several composite materials prepared by incorporating solid lubricants with the basic alloys of the Cu-Nb system and Cu-Sn system were investigated to test the suitability of the composite materials as sliding contacts. As a result, it was clarified that the composite materials based on Cu-Sn alloy were superior to those based on Cu-Nb alloy and those containing only WS2 and not MoS2 were more effective in reducing both the contact resistance and the coefficient of friction. Based on the relationship between the contact resistance and the coefficient of friction obtained in this experimental study, the author proposed a new model for electric contact of composite materials.

This is an attempt to examine the contact resistance of a composite material which is used for sliding contacts. The composite material used here is sintered by dispersing the solid lubricant WS2 into the metallic base alloy Cu-Sn. A method based on Greenwood's formula is applied to determine how the calculated values are related to the contact resistance values obtained in our experiments. As a result, the composite material mated with the carbon specimen is found nearly to corresponds to the values of those calculated by the extended Greenwood's formula, whereas its value mated with the tungsten specimen does not. In short, it is concluded that the composite material mated with the carbon specimen consists of multispots.

Composite materials of solid lubricants, such as graphite, MoS2, WS2, etc., and metals are being used as the sliding electrical contacts. However, few reports have so far been presented on the detailed characteristics of such composite materials. It is shown in this report that contact resistance and coefficient of friction of the sliding contact of the composite material of Cu-Nb system against Cu were higher than those of the sliding contact of the composite material of Cu-Sn system against Cu. It was, further, found that composite materials of Cu-Sn system were superior to those of Cu-Nb system being both contact resistances and coefficients of friction lowered. At the same time, it was found that performances of composite materials of Cu-Sn alloy base containing exclusively WS2 were superior to those containing both WS2 and MoS2. It was, therefore, suggested that proper samples suitable for the service conditions should be selected from the composite materials of Cu-Sn system which contain exclusively WS2 for the practical applications.