Patent ID: 7923651

Claim:
An electrical contact having a metallic contact surface, wherein the electrical contact comprises: a stainless steel substrate; an underlying layer comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, nickel alloys, and cobalt alloys, said underlying layer being provided on at least a part of the stainless steel substrate; an interlayer of copper or a copper alloy, said interlayer having a thickness of 0.05 to 2.0 μm and being provided on the underlying layer; and an upper layer of silver or a silver alloy, said upper layer being provided on the interlayer and being positioned at the metallic contact surface of said electrical contact; wherein said electrical contact is located adjacent to at least two electrical terminals, and said contact is movable between a closed position in which said contact closes an electrical circuit between the terminals and an opened position in which said contact opens said electrical circuit between the terminals, and wherein a majority of stress applied on said electrical contact when moving between the opened position and the closed position is in a direction perpendicular parallel to the thickness directions of said layers.