Abstract: Method of using a material including a conductive metal matrix and magnetic entities representing between 8 and 80% by weight of the material and including hard magnetic phases, the magnetic entities being non-magnetized but capable of being magnetized in an average orientation defined by the direction of a magnetic field applied to the material, in order to blow an electric arc between two electrical contact pads, at least one of which includes the material.

Abstract: A method is provided for producing a part made of a silver-based alloy using an initial alloy, the initial alloy comprising silver and at least one metal soluble in silver at contents between 0.04 and 4 atomic %, the at least one metal being capable of forming a stable oxide at high temperature. The method may comprise oxygenation of the initial alloy at a temperature of about 300° C., so as to dissolve oxygen into the silver contained in the initial alloy, partial oxidation of the at least one metal at a temperature of between 400 and 850° C., so as to form precipitate particles that prevent the alloy grains from coarsening, and complete oxidation of the at least one metal at a temperature of between 400 and 850° C., wherein the oxidation takes place in at least an outer layer of the alloy, and wherein the at least one metal forms an oxide stable at high temperature.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an electrical contact material comprising a matrix made of conductive metal and an unstable fraction incorporated into this matrix. The unstable fraction has the property of decomposing between the operating temperature of the electrical contact and the melting point of the metal with the release of a gas capable of destabilizing an electric arc.

Abstract: The invention relates to an improvement of a manufacturing process for making a filament directly from a molten material. The process consists of the ejection of a liquid filament which solidifies in air by making a rotating disc touch the surface of a liquid. The improvement consists in the stabilization of the meniscus which appears upon the wheel near the surface of the liquid and thereby fixing the point where the filament leaves the wheel in order to obtain a constant cross section of the filament. The meniscus is stabilized by the interposition of a body: a rod or a convex piece of a material which does not react with the melt.