Research on the Application of Laser Ablation in the Rapid Detection of Ablation Resistance on the Surface of AgNi Contact Materials

The ablation resistance of electrical contact materials is a key factor in ensuring the long-term stable operation of electrical equipment. However, conventional electrical contact tests often suffer from long testing cycles, high resource consumption, and poor repeatability, which severely limits the efficient screening and engineering application of new materials. In this study, the thermal erosion behavior of AgNi-series silver-based contact materials under various laser energy inputs was systematically investigated using laser ablation technology. An integrated laser testing platform was employed to extract multiple parameters, including longitudinal ablation depth, linear ablation rate, depth-to-diameter ratio, and ablation area growth rate, enabling quantitative analysis of thermal response characteristics and performance comparison among materials. Furthermore, fractal dimension analysis was introduced to characterize the evolution of surface morphological complexity after ablation, and Pearson correlation analysis was performed to compare the results with those from conventional electrical contact tests. The results showed high consistency in ablation resistance ranking and surface response trends between the two methods, with correlation coefficients for all three materials exceeding 0.78, and AgNi10 exhibiting the best ablation resistance. This study demonstrates that laser ablation technology can significantly shorten testing cycles and improve repeatability while ensuring result reliability, providing an efficient and feasible approach for high-throughput screening and industrial application of electrical contact materials.