With the knowledge that gold does not corrode, one might think that there must be other uses for gold other than just in the dental or food industry. And they are right. Gold is also used often in electronics.
The fact that gold not only does not corrode, but also is a good conductor of electricity makes it a solid choice for use in circuitry.
Where it is often found is in the connectors and contact surfaces. The use of gold in these parts also require that there is low contact force as gold is rather soft on its own.
These connectors can be found in many of the electronics we use on a day-to-day basis such as cars, mobile phones and computers. While other metals such as silver or copper can be used for circuit boards due to their higher electrical conductivity than gold (only silver and copper have higher electrical conductivity than gold), only gold can be used in automotive electronics near the engine.
This is because the environment near the engine is too hostile for other metals. The high temperature causes other metals to start oxidising and corroding, making gold the safest and usually the only option.
However, gold will usually be replaced with other metals when it comes to electronic parts that are not in such a hostile environment. Usually a good alternative to gold is silver or copper. This is due to their relatively lower cost. In the next article, we will go through silver as it is used in the electronic industry.
Source: link.springer.com
