Terminal Sealing Barrier in Corrosion Prevention for Automotive Harness

Electrical connectors used in the automotive and aerospace architecture are exposed to the most different environmental conditions. In this harsh environmental the harness can be attacked and may loose contact resistance integrity. Consequently, a wide number of failures can occurs mainly in the terminal wire connections damaged by galvanic and oxidation corrosion. This kind of material's degradation may have great impact on financial and safety issues. The automotive current solution available is silicone cable seal placed in different connectors. This product fulfills all the protection requirements well at very low cost and for this reason it is widely spread. However, there is an automotive tendency of downsizing what could be a limitation. For this particular purpose an overview of the sealing barrier concept was the main proposal of this study, in order to promote alternative concepts which can assure contact resistance integrity and avoid corrosion.