Electrical Conductivity Measurement of Additively Manufactured Components

Metal Additive Manufacturing is an enabling technology in realising novel windings for high-efficiency, high-powerdensity electrical machines and wound components, essential in meeting future Net Zero ambitions. However, the nature of additive fabrication processes can lead to variability in resulting electrical properties. This study aims to establish a reliable and repeatable measurement procedure specifically tailored to metallic additively manufactured materials to support accurate design in electrical applications. A practical measurement protocol based on ASTM B193 is presented to establish the electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient of resistance of additively manufactured conductors. A standardised serpentine specimen geometry is proposed to satisfy the dimensional criteria of the standard while accounting for the typical build limitations of additive manufacturing processes, thereby improving manufacturing efficiency. Two measurement arrangements, high and low current, were investigated in combination with two temperature control methods, namely, steady state and transient. The results show a strong correlation with established reference data, validating the accuracy, repeatability, and robustness of the proposed approach. Among the tested configurations, the low current steady state arrangement yielded the highest precision, with a mean error of 2.2%, followed by the high current transient method at 4.4%, demonstrating the suitability of the method