Installation for Determining the Contact Electrical Resistance of High-Temperature Materials

Abstract—A setup for determining the contact electrical resistance measured using two surface point potential probes installed at the same distance from the contact surface is described. The total number of paired probes located at different distances from the contact surface is four. The reference temperature range is 380–1500 K. Measurements can be performed in vacuum and in air. The setup allows one to investigate the contact resistance at a direct current, which may vary from 20 to 120 A. The first test experiments have shown that changing the current polarity does not affect the current–voltage characteristic measured on a monolithic sample or on a sample with one fixed contact surface.