Fretting wear reliability assessment methodology of gold-plated electrical connectors considering manufacture parameters distribution

Relatively little is known about the influence of manufacture parameters distribution on the reliability of electrical connectors under fretting conditions. In order to investigate the fretting wear lifetime of electrical connectors, an estimation model is proposed. The theoretical model of normal contact force for connector is established, and the finite element method is used to verify the accuracy of the normal contact force model. Then, the initial model of electrical connectors is constructed utilizing the Monte Carlo sampling method and the distribution of normal contact forces is analyzed. In addition, the corresponding fretting wear lifetime is calculated based on the estimation model, and then its distribution type and distributing parameters are obtained. Finally, the reliability assessment method of electrical connectors is completed.