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Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Best Practice : Precision Metrology
In 1992, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-sponsored meeting discovered that no precision measurement services for large products existed in the United States. American industries and government agencies had to rely on European services for end standard and step gauge calibrations. In response, the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) established the Metrology Center. As an alliance between government, industry, technical societies, and academia, the Center provides a national infrastructure for end standard and step gauge measurements which are traceable to the international standard for length. The Center applies existing precision metrology, facilities, equipment, and expertise toward precision measurement needs.
The Metrology Center combines its advanced technological capabilities with NIST’s measurement expertise, and features a high-precision, large-volume Moore M60 coordinate measurement machine (CMM). The Center can calibrate end standards and step gauges up to 1.35 meters long to a certified accuracy of 0.7 micrometers per meter (equivalent to one-hundredth the diameter of a human hair) which exceeds NIST’s previous maximum of 750 millimeters. Though varying in appearance and composition, step gauges resemble long rulers with precisely determined total and incremental lengths. For end standards, only the length is calibrated.
Among its many calibration disciplines, ORCMT’s Metrology Center also offers precision mass measurements. As a world-class weight calibration laboratory, the Center provides highly accurate measurements and calibrations which are traceable to the international standard for weights. The Metrology Center’s calibrating weight standards range from 1 milligram to 30 kilograms within Class I tolerances. Criteria for Class I tolerances are established by NIST and the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP). The services are NVLAP accredited.
ORCMT’s Metrology Center can provide calibrations up to 1.5 meters for one- and two-dimensional end standards and step gauges. The NVLAP accredited precision dimensional services are available for calibrating large grid and ball plates. The NVLAP accredited calibration services for optical grid plates are also provided.
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
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