JP2016071951A - Crimp terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a crimping terminal capable of maintaining high reliability.SOLUTION: In a crimping terminal 20 provided, on the front end side thereof, with an electric connection 22 to be fitted and connected with a mating terminal and provided, on the rear end side thereof, with a conductor crimp part 23 which is crimped to the conductor of an Al wire 100 when it is bent inward and caulked, a FTO thin film 33 doped with an element contributive to conductivity expression is provided in a region of the conductor crimp part 23 in contact with the Al wire 100.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a crimp terminal for crimping an electric wire such as an aluminum electric wire.

  Conventionally, crimp terminals are provided with a conductor crimping part behind the terminal part, and the end of the exposed wire is crimped to the conductor crimping part, so that the electrical connection between the crimping terminal and the cable is achieved. Is planned.

  In recent years, due to demands for reducing the weight of vehicles, there has been a demand for reducing the weight of electric wires routed in vehicles. Therefore, the use of Al electric wires in which lighter Al (aluminum) or Al alloys are used instead of conventional Cu or Cu alloys as the material of electric wires is increasing.

  On the other hand, a crimp terminal for crimping an electric wire uses a Cu alloy as a base material, and an Sn plating layer is formed on the surface. For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses that, in a crimp terminal using copper or a copper alloy as a base material, an Sn plating layer having a hardness lower than that of a base metal is formed and an aluminum electric wire is crimped.

JP 2009-152052 A

  However, in the prior art as described above, in a normal use state, an Al oxide film is formed on the surface of the Al electric wire and an Sn oxide film is formed on the surface of the crimp terminal. Each Sn oxide film has a high volume resistivity. Furthermore, the Al oxide film has a relatively large thickness and a relatively high hardness.

  Therefore, when an Al electric wire is placed and crimped on the crimp terminal, the Sn oxide film cannot sufficiently destroy the Al oxide film, and there is a shortage of the new surface of Al to be in contact with the surface of the crimp terminal. As a result, there is a problem that good conduction may not be obtained.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a crimp terminal capable of obtaining high reliability for conduction regardless of the material of the electric wire.

  In order to solve the above problems, a crimp terminal according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) to (3).

(1) An electrical connection part for fitting and connecting with a mating terminal is provided on the front end side, and a conductor crimping part that is crimped to the conductor of the wire by being bent inward and crimped on the rear end side. In the crimp terminal,
A crimp terminal, wherein an oxide thin film doped with an element contributing to conductivity is provided in a region of the conductor crimping portion that is in contact with the electric wire.
(2) The element contributing to the development of conductivity is at least one selected from the group consisting of F, In, Ga, Tl, As, Sb, and Bi, as described in (1) above Crimp terminal.
(3) The crimp terminal according to (2) above, wherein the element contributing to the development of conductivity includes at least F.

  The crimp terminal according to the present invention is a base material that forms an electric wire by destroying an oxide film formed on the surface of the electric wire using a conductive oxide film formed on the surface of the crimp terminal when the electric wire is caulked. A new surface can be created. Therefore, high reliability with respect to conduction between the crimp terminal and the electric wire can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining an oxide thin film according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the crimp terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of a conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a top view of the conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a view for explaining conduction between the crimp terminal and the electric wire according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining an oxide thin film according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electric element 1 shown in FIG. 1 is formed by providing an oxide thin film 16 doped with an element on a base 12.

  The material of the substrate 12 can be appropriately selected according to the application, but as a crimp terminal, generally, a Cu alloy such as Cu or brass can be used. Apart from this, Al, Fe or alloys thereof can also be used. The thickness of the base material 12 can be appropriately determined according to the application, and the shape of the base material 12 can be a rectangular shape, a cylindrical shape, or other irregular shapes.

As a material of the oxide thin film 16, it can select suitably according to a use. Examples of the oxide include SnO, SnO ₂ , NiO, Ni ₂ O ₃ , ZnO, CuO ₂ , CuAlO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , or a mixture thereof. From the viewpoint of inter alia improving the effect of the present invention, the oxide is preferably a SnO and / or SnO _2.

  The element doped in the oxide thin film 16 is preferably an element that contributes to the development of conductivity. For example, at least one selected from the group consisting of F, In, Ga, Tl, As, Sb, and Bi can be given. It is done. Among these, F is preferable from the viewpoint of excellent conductivity and wear resistance, and the oxide thin film 16 is particularly preferably fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO).

  In addition, the thickness and size of the base material 12 and the oxide thin film 16 can be appropriately selected according to the application, but the thickness of the oxide thin film 16 is preferably, for example, 10 nm to 1 μm.

  An Ni plating layer may be provided on the base material 12 in order to prevent, for example, Cu or Cu alloy contained in the base material 12 from diffusing on the oxide thin film 16 as necessary. For the Ni plating layer, Ni alloy such as Fe—Ni alloy or Sn—Ni alloy can be used in addition to Ni. The thickness of the Ni plating layer is determined as appropriate as long as the object can be achieved.

Hereinafter, the crimp terminal 20 according to the present invention will be described.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the crimp terminal 20. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal 20. FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of the conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal 20. FIG. 5 is a top view of the conductor crimping portion of the crimp terminal 20.

  The crimp terminal 20 mainly includes a bottom plate part 21, an electrical connection part 22 into which a mating terminal is inserted, a conductor crimp part 23 crimped to the conductor exposed part 100a of the Al electric wire 100, and a covering part 100b of the Al electric wire 100. And a covering caulking portion 24 that is caulked. In the conductor crimping portion 23, a pair of conductor crimping pieces 23a are formed in a U-shape on both lateral edges of the bottom plate portion 21, and a plurality of serrations 23b extending in the left-right direction of the crimping terminal 20 are formed on the inside thereof. Is formed. In the covering crimping portion 24, a pair of covering crimping pieces 24 a are formed on both side edges of the bottom plate portion 21 in the left-right direction.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the crimp terminal 20 has an FTO thin film 33 formed on the conductor crimp portion 23. As shown in FIG. 4, the FTO thin film 33 is laminated on the surface where the Al electric wire 100 is installed in the conductor crimping portion 23. The crimp terminal 20 according to the present embodiment corresponds to the electric element 1 described above, and the FTO thin film 33 corresponds to the oxide thin film 16 described above.

A method for manufacturing the crimp terminal 20 according to the present embodiment will be described.
First, a metal plate formed of a Cu alloy made of brass is prepared, and a Ni plating layer is formed as necessary. The plating layer can be formed by a known plating method. For example, the electrolytic plating method is a method that is conventionally performed, and is preferable because the apparatus configuration is simple and the control of the layer thickness is relatively easy. In the present embodiment, the Sn plating layer 36 is formed on the metal plate.

  Next, an FTO thin film 33 doped with an element is provided on the metal plate. The FTO thin film 33 can be provided by, for example, a spray pyrolysis (SPD) method. As is well known in the SPD method, the substrate is heated to the film formation temperature and sprayed with the solution that is the raw material of the film using a spraying means such as an atomizer toward the initial stage. Forms a crystal by evaporating the solvent in the droplets attached to the substrate surface, followed by the hydrolysis and thermal oxidation reactions following the thermal decomposition of the solute, and as the reaction proceeds, the droplets form on the crystals. This is a method of forming a thin film by adhering and evaporating a solvent between droplets and advancing crystal growth between a solute and a lower crystal. By adopting the SPD method, the FTO thin film 33 can be formed in a pinpoint and / or arbitrary shape. The FTO thin film 33 can be formed by employing a known method other than the SPD method. Then, a known press molding or bending process is performed on the metal plate to produce a crimp terminal 20 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining conduction between the crimp terminal and the electric wire according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6A, an Al oxide film 38 is formed on the surface of the Al wire 100 before the Al wire 100 and the crimp terminal 20 are crimped. A thin film 33 is laminated.
Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the Al electric wire 100 starts to be crimped to the crimp terminal 20, a part of the FTO thin film 33 is broken and becomes a fragment. Since the broken piece of the FTO thin film 33 has conductivity, conduction between the Al electric wire 100 and the crimp terminal 20 is not hindered. On the other hand, since the Al electric wire 100 is deformed by pressure bonding, a part of the Al oxide film 38 formed on the surface is destroyed, and a new surface of Al is generated. Further, since the broken piece of the FTO thin film 33 functions as a grindstone, it enters into the broken portion of the Al oxide film 38, the destruction of the Al oxide film 38 further proceeds, and a new Al new surface is generated. .

  Note that a noble metal plating layer such as an Ag plating layer may be formed on the metal plate by an electrolytic plating method, and the FTO thin film 33 may be provided thereon by the SPD method. In this case, since the thickness of the noble metal plating layer can be reduced by the amount of the FTO thin film 33 laminated, the cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.

The FTO thin film 33 formed in this way has conductivity (for example, a specific resistance value of 1 × 10 ⁷ Ω · cm or less), and further, by using the SPD method, The thickness can be freely controlled.
As described above, the crimp terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention has an oxide film formed on the surface of the electric wire using the conductive oxide film formed on the surface of the crimp terminal when the electric wire is caulked. The new surface of the base material which destroys and comprises an electric wire can be produced. Therefore, high reliability with respect to conduction between the crimp terminal and the electric wire can be obtained. Further, since the crimp terminal does not need to have a special structure for breaking the Al oxide film formed on the surface of the Al electric wire and generating a new surface, cost reduction and downsizing can be realized.

  In the above description, the present invention has been described by taking the crimp terminal 20 as an example of the electric element 1 of the present invention. However, in addition to this application, the present invention can be used for various applications as an electric element known in the art.

Here, the features of the embodiment of the electric element according to the present invention described above are briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [3], respectively.
[1] An electrical connection portion (22) for fitting and connecting to a mating terminal is provided on the front end side, and the conductor (Al wire 100) of the electric wire (Al electric wire 100) is bent and crimped on the rear end side. In the crimp terminal (20) provided with the conductor crimping part (23) to be crimped to the conductor exposed part 100a),
A crimp terminal characterized in that an oxide thin film (FTO thin film 33) doped with an element contributing to conductivity is provided in a region of the conductor crimping portion (23) that is in contact with the electric wire (Al electric wire 100). (20).
[2] The element according to [1], wherein the element contributing to the development of conductivity is at least one selected from the group consisting of F, In, Ga, Tl, As, Sb, and Bi. Crimp terminal.
[3] The crimp terminal (20) according to the above [2], wherein the element contributing to the development of conductivity includes at least F.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric element 12 Base material 16 Oxide thin film 20 Crimp terminal 21 Bottom plate part 22 Electrical connection part 23 Conductor crimping part 23a Conductor crimping piece 23b Serration 24 Covering crimping part 24a Covering crimping piece 33 FTO thin film 36 Sn plating layer 100 Al Electric wire 100a Conductor exposed part 100b Covering part

Claims (3)

Crimping with an electrical connection part for fitting and connecting to the mating terminal on the front end side, and a conductor crimping part that is crimped to the conductor of the wire by being bent inward and crimped on the rear end side At the terminal,
A crimp terminal, wherein an oxide thin film doped with an element contributing to conductivity is provided in a region of the conductor crimping portion that is in contact with the electric wire.   2. The crimp terminal according to claim 1, wherein the element contributing to the electrical conductivity is at least one selected from the group consisting of F, In, Ga, Tl, As, Sb, and Bi.   The crimp terminal according to claim 2, wherein the element contributing to the development of conductivity includes at least F.

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