Effect of Probe Contact Resistance, Thermoelectric Voltage and Time Dependence on Electrical Resistance Measurement of Superalloy Single-Crystal Steel by Four-Point Probe

The effects of probe contact resistance, thermoelectric voltage and time dependence on electrical resistance measurement of superalloy single-crystal steel were examined as important error factors in determining the electrical conductivity of the sample using the four-point probe (FPP) method. It was shown that even when the contact resistance and its time dependence are large, its effect on the sample resistance measurement results is insignificant. Additionally, it was found that the thermoelectric voltage effect can cause a measurement error of several percent, and to cancel this effect, the voltage due to both polarities of the applied current must be averaged. In addition, it was found that in the first few minutes, the measured voltage values change rapidly within the first few minutes and may cause an error of several percent; to obtain accuracy and an uncertainty of about 0.1%, the measurements must be performed after voltage stabilization. The results indicated that to determine sample resistance accurately using the FPP method, the effects examined above must be considered in addition to the basic parameters of current, voltage, and geometric correction factor mentioned in literature (Kang et al. in J Electr Eng Technol 18:1419–1427, 2023).