Abstract: A silver-cadmium oxide material having throughout a substantially uniform cadmium oxide distribution and suitable for use as electrical contact material is made from silver-cadmium oxide having an internal cadmium oxide depleted zone. The layers are bonded together by hot rolling which reduces the bonded material to a thickness less than the original thickness of the combined layers. Two or more layers of material are superimposed one over another and bonded and reduced in thickness by hot rolling. The process is repeated with bonded material from preceding steps a sufficient number of times to obtain a material having a substantially uniform dispersion of cadmium-oxide particles throughout the interior thereof.

Abstract: Ag-CdO type material suitable for use as an electrical contact material in a switching device such as a circuit breaking device is disclosed. The material contains Ag and CdO with an oxide of Sn and an oxide of an additive metal selected from Mg, Ca, or mixtures of oxides of such additive metals. The additive metal appears to form an oxide of the metal earlier during oxidation of the material than either the Sn or Cd thereby acting as a nucleating site for the formation of the oxides of the Sn and Cd. The oxide of the metals appears to tend to grow as a mixture of the oxides of the additive metal, Cd and Sn. This material has good high temperature properties, undergoes oxidation of the oxidizable constituents at a high rate and has a fine oxide particle size.The method of making the Ag-CdO type material.