Abstract
Evaluation of electroplated gold has been carried out to obtain the data base for electrical, mechanical and environmental properties for telecommunication component applications. Gold plating was performed to a various thickness of $0.1\mu\textrm{m}$ to 1.$25\mu\textrm{m}$ after Ni plating of $3\mu\textrm{m}$ on C52100 bronze. Electrical properties were evaluated by measuring contact resistance using 4-wire method under static contact and dynamic contact during wear. Reciprocating wear test was performed to study the wear behavior as well as failure of gold contacts. Environmental characteristics were evaluated by using salt spray testing and SO2 test. Hardness of soft gold film was measured to be 53KHN under 5g load. Friction coefficient was initially obtained to be 0.15 and 0.25 under 100g and 200g loads respectively, and then raised up to 0.8 with increasing reciprocating wear cycles. Static contact resistance was 2 to 3m$\Omega$ regardless of gold film thickness while drastic changes of contact resistance were occured upon stripping of the gold film during wear. The lifetime of contact wear showing stable contact resistance increased up to 6 times for $1\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness compared to that of$ 0.1\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness under 100g load. All gold plating appeared to be stable under salt atmosphere while only the gold plating over 1$\mu\textrm{m}$ was stable under SO2 atmosphere.
