Greetings, A very good discussion about the use of BeCu gaskets. Thanks Just a note from the connector technology. This technology uses BeCu for much the same reason we do but there is the need for very low impedance between two mating and seperable connectors. In this case the materials and processing are very important so what is done is to clean the BeCu very rigously then Cu plate then Ni plate then plate the Co hard gold. There is or can become an insulating BeCu oxide where the contact impedance is vary high(we would use it). The Cu assures no growth of BeCu oxides. If the Cu is eliminated then the Ni serves the same function.
It would be interesting if ever there was use of BeCu under harsh environmental conditions with sucess. In our case the BeCu is usually very clean and the contact pressure is very high. For EMC purposes insure the contact pressure is high, beyond the break thur point, and the oxiding environment is small otherwise we lmight have to do something like the connector industry. Thanks again for that enjoyable and interesting conversation. Richard Haynes
