Patent ID: 7300623

Claim:
A method for producing a composite sintered contact component by integrating a sintered contact material with a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical backing, the sintered contact material containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of Al, Si, Co and Ni, and having 10% by volume or more a Fe base alloy phase which causes an order-disorder transition, the backing being made from an iron base material, wherein the backing is a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical backing, wherein the sintered contact material contains metallic Al which causes expansion of the sintered contact material and 10 to 70 wt % Cu which is used as an element for generating a liquid phase within a high temperature zone to ensure sinter strength and sinter bondability, wherein a compact made from the sintered contact material is a cylindrical component having an outer diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the backing, wherein when the cylindrical component is heated to 900° C. or more, being inserted into the backing, (a) the sintered contact material is expanded by heating at a temperature of 800° C. or more for a specified period of time and bonded to the backing by utilizing a Cu base alloy liquid phase which has been generated at the expansion temperature, and (b) the sintered contact material is further heated at a temperature of 900° C. or more thereby generating more Cu base alloy liquid phase to compact the sintered contact material, and wherein a third insert material is interposed between the cylindrical or substantially cylindrical backing made from an iron base material and the cylindrical compact made from the sintered contact material and having an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the backing, whereby a liquid phase component is generated which is useful for bonding the sintered contact material to the backing when heating the sintered contact material at 800° C. or more so as to be expanded.