Modeling and Analysis of Electrical Connectors in Salt Spray Environment

As a basic component, electrical connectors play a major role in the transmission and control of electric signals. In this paper, SubMiniature version A (SMA) coaxial connectors, which are widely used in the microwave equipment and radio frequency circuits, were taken as the research objects to investigate the degradation of electrical connectors in salt spray environment. The simulation model was built to analyze the failure mechanism. An accelerated test was conducted to study its electrical contact properties and obtain the degradation data. The experimental and simulation results showed consistent trends. Accordingly, the degradation of the high-frequency performance for the electrical connector in the salt spray environment is mainly due to the formation of corrosion film on the contact surface.