Pfeffer and his team then subjected the selected material to an extensive series of material tests: They exposed it to heat and cold to test how the electrical resistance changed. They passed current through it at increasingly higher voltages until the conductive paths burned through. They stretched the TPE to find out to what point it would return to its original shape and how the conductivity would gradually decrease under tension. They artificially aged the material to see how that affected conductivity and they exposed it to the elements on a flat roof for a year to find out how the TPE weathers and how its properties change during this process.
The research also focused on the question of what settings need to be made on the "freeformer," Arburg's industrial additive manufacturing system, to minimize the material’s electrical resistance and to test whether the print orientation (horizontal or vertical) affects the conductivity of the printed components.
