WCu materials dominate the high-current electrical contact material market despite their limited machinability. This study investigates a potential alternative contact material, tantalum‑copper-X (Ta-Cu-X; X = tungsten carbide (WC) or cerium oxide (CeO₂), in which Ta imparts excellent machinability and thermal resistance while the oxides and carbides impart excellent mechanical properties. CeO₂ and WC were selected as additives owing to their favorable chemical stability. Ta-Cu-X powder mixtures were prepared in order to facilitate the incorporation of different ratios of additives into molded and sintered TaCu composites with a Ta:Cu wt% ratio of 40:60. The electrical conductivity, arc resistance, and hardness of the resultant composites were investigated. The electrical and thermal conductivities of the composites decreased with increasing additive content; however, their hardness increased. An optimum combination of electrical conductivity (52.8% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard)), thermal conductivity (194.2 W/m∙K), and hardness (163.5 HV) was demonstrated by the composite containing 0.5% CeO₂; these properties compare favorably with those of commercially available electrical contact materials.

尽管可加工性有限，钨铜材料在大电流电接触材料市场占据主导地位。本研究调查了一种潜在的替代触点材料，钽-铜-X（Ta-Cu-X；X = 碳化钨 (WC) 或氧化铈 (CeO ₂ )，其中 Ta 具有出色的机械加工性和耐热性，而氧化物和碳化物赋予优异的机械性能。选择 CeO ₂和 WC 作为添加剂，因为它们具有良好的化学稳定性。制备 Ta-Cu-X 粉末混合物以促进不同比例的添加剂掺入成型和烧结的 Ta具有 40:60 的 Ta:Cu wt% 比的 Cu 复合材料。研究了所得复合材料的导电性、耐电弧性和硬度。复合材料的电导率和热导率随着添加剂含量的增加而降低；然而，它们的硬度增加了。含有 0.5% CeO ₂的复合材料证明了电导率（52.8% IACS（国际退火铜标准））、热导率（194.2 W/m∙K）和硬度（163.5 HV）的最佳组合；这些特性与市售电接触材料的特性相比毫不逊色。