An electrical conductivity translator for carbons

•Four points probe is adequate for small amount of carbon samples.•Compression method is preferable for anisotropic carbons.•Carbon conductivities from both methods can be correlated allowing comparison.

The variety of methodologies used to determine the electrical conductivity of carbons makes it very difficult to compare samples and establish reference values. In this study, the electrical conductivity of a wide range of carbons was determined using two different methods: four-point probe and compression. Although the methodologies and the operating conditions are very different, linear correlations between the values measured by these two methods can be established for some of the materials studied. Only materials with a very high conductivity (graphite and carbon black) could not be correlated.