Silver-plated copper powder is a composite conductive powder with copper powder as the core and silver as the coating layer. By coating inexpensive copper powder with a layer of highly conductive and oxidation-resistant silver, it significantly reduces material costs while maintaining excellent conductivity, making it an ideal alternative to pure silver powder.
High cost-effectiveness: Copper is far less expensive than silver. Silver-plated copper powder, while achieving conductivity close to that of pure silver powder, can significantly reduce material costs for electronic pastes, conductive adhesives, and other products.
Complementary performance advantages: It overcomes the tendency of copper powder to oxidize easily. Pure copper powder readily oxidizes into an insulator at high temperatures, while the silver plating effectively isolates it from air, raising its initial oxidation temperature from below 200℃ to above 350℃, and even preventing oxidation at 800℃ when fully coated.
The performance of silver-plated copper powder is closely related to its morphology and silver content, which determines its different application areas.
Morphology determines application: Dendritic and flake-shaped silver-plated copper powders, due to their large interparticle contact area, are more likely to form conductive networks and have better conductivity than spherical powders. Therefore, they are often used in conductive rubbers and conductive coatings where extremely high conductivity is required.
Silver content determines the upper limit of performance: Silver-plated copper powder with high silver content (such as a silver layer thickness of 336 nanometers) has conductivity and high-temperature resistance properties that are almost indistinguishable from pure silver powder, making it the first choice for high-end electronic pastes.
