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Technical Advantages of Highly Durable Mechanical Push Button Switches: The Secret to Achieving Tens of Millions of Push Lifetimes

Sep. 23, 2024

Mechanical push button switches are widely used in all kinds of electronic equipment due to their strong tactile feedback and accurate operation. However, in some application scenarios that require high-frequency operation, such as industrial control, military equipment, and medical instruments, the durability of the push button switch becomes a key factor. In this article, we will discuss in detail the technical advantages of high durability mechanical push button switches, focusing on analyzing their high lifespan design, reinforced contact materials and coating technology, and performance in extreme environments.

 

Technical Advantages of Highly Durable Mechanical Push button Switches: The Secret to Achieving Tens of Millions of Push-Presses

 

High Life Design: How to Achieve Tens of Millions of Presses

1. Shaft design optimization

The shaft is the core component of a mechanical key switch, and its design directly affects the life and feel of the key. High durability mechanical push button switches usually adopt the following optimized design:

 

High-precision manufacturing process: High-precision molds are used to manufacture the shaft body to ensure the consistency and accuracy of each component, thus reducing friction and wear.

 

Shaft body structure improvement: By optimizing the internal structure of the shaft body, such as adding stabilizing columns and adjusting the design of guide grooves for shaft body sliding, the smoothness and consistency of key operation is ensured.

 

Technical Advantages of Highly Durable Mechanical Push Button Switches: The Secret to Achieving Tens of Millions of Push Lifetimes


2. Spring selection and processing

The quality and design of the spring directly affects the feel and life of the keypad. High durability mechanical keypad switches usually use high quality spring material with special treatment:

 

High-strength spring steel: High-strength and fatigue-resistant spring steel materials, such as nickel-chromium alloy, are used to ensure that the spring is not easily deformed in long-term use.

 

Surface treatment technology: Through heat treatment and plating treatment, the corrosion resistance and fatigue resistance of the spring are enhanced, so as to extend its service life.

 

3. Innovation of contact material

Contacts are the most wearable part of mechanical push button switches. Highly durable mechanical push button switches have made a lot of innovations in the selection and treatment of contact materials:

 

Precious metal coating: Precious metal coatings such as gold and silver are used to enhance the wear resistance and conductivity of the contacts.

 

Double-layer contact design: Increase the durability and stability of the contacts by adding double or multi-layer contact design.

 

Enhanced contact material and coating technology

1. Selection of contact material The contact material directly affects the conductivity and durability of the push button switch. Highly durable mechanical push button switches usually use the following contact materials:

 

Precious metal alloys: such as gold and silver alloys, these materials have excellent electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance, which can significantly enhance the service life of the contacts.

 

High hardness alloys: such as tungsten alloy, which has high hardness and wear resistance, and can maintain good contact performance in high-frequency use.

 

2. Application of coating technology Coating technology can further enhance the durability and performance of contacts. The following coating technologies are commonly used for highly durable mechanical push button switches:

 

Electroplating technology: Electroplating technology is used to form a uniform metal coating on the contact surface, such as gold plating or silver plating, to enhance the conductivity and corrosion resistance of the contacts.

 

PVD coating technology: Physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology can form a layer of dense and hard coating on the surface of the contact, which significantly improves the abrasion and corrosion resistance of the contact.

 

High durability mechanical keypad performance in extreme environments (high temperature, low temperature, high humidity, etc.)

1. Performance in High Temperature Environments In high temperature environments, material expansion and friction increase, placing higher demands on the life and performance of the push button switch. High durability mechanical push button switches improve their performance in high temperature environments in the following ways:

 

High-temperature resistant materials: High-temperature resistant plastic and metal materials are used to ensure that the push button switch does not deform or age under high-temperature environments.

 

Thermally stable coating: Adopting thermally stable coating technology, such as ceramic coating, to enhance the keypad's abrasion resistance and oxidation resistance under high temperature.

 

2. Performance under low temperature environment

Under low temperature environment, the brittleness of the material increases, which can easily lead to the failure of the key switch. High durability mechanical push button switches can improve their performance in low temperature environment by the following ways:

 

Low-temperature toughness materials: Materials with good low-temperature toughness, such as modified engineering plastics, are used to ensure that the keypad maintains good mechanical properties in low-temperature environments.

 

Anti-frosting design: By designing anti-frosting structure, avoiding the failure of the keypad switch due to frosting in low temperature environment.

 

3. Performance in high humidity environments

Under high humidity environment, the push button switch is prone to oxidization and corrosion. Highly durable mechanical push button switches are designed to improve their performance in high humidity environments in the following ways:

 

Waterproof and moisture-proof design: Sealed structure design and waterproof materials are used to enhance the waterproof and moisture-proof performance of the push button switch.

 

Anti-corrosion coating: Anti-corrosion coating, such as fluorocarbon coating, is applied to the surface of the push button switch and contacts to prevent oxidation and corrosion in high humidity environments.

 

High Durability Mechanical push button switches have become the first choice in all types of demanding application scenarios due to their high lifespan design, reinforced contact materials and coating technology, and excellent performance in extreme environments. Through the use of advanced design and manufacturing processes, high durability mechanical push button switches not only achieve tens of millions of presses, but also maintain stable performance under a variety of harsh conditions. In the future, as material science and manufacturing technology continue to advance, high durability mechanical push button switches will further improve their performance and provide reliable solutions for more areas.