Wear mode map of current collecting materials

Conventionally, several reports on quantification of wear of current collecting materials have been published. The objectives of these reports were to predict the wear of current collecting materials in field. However, the measure to reduce the wear of current collecting materials has not been proposed yet. In this paper, the authors focus on wear mode transition phenomena to propose the wear reduction measure, and carry out an electric potential distribution analysis and a temperature distribution analysis. From the analysis results, it is found that the relationship between electric potential and temperature is formed parabolic curve, and the curve depends on only a contact voltage. Further, the authors propose a “wear mode map” which shows transition conditions between the wear modes under electric flowing condition by formulating the parabolic curve. According to the wear mode map, the authors identify the three dominant parameters of wear mode transition as a contact voltage, contact resistances include film resistance and melting points of current collecting materials.