Force metrology

News and Updates

Measuring Up: NIST Calibrates Masses for Unique Air Force Deadweight Machines

November 18, 2021

Mechanical engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have just finished calibrating several dozen large metal masses, which will be

A Billion Tiny Pendulums Could Detect the Universe’s Missing Mass

October 13, 2020

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have proposed a novel method for finding dark matter, the cosmos’s

Atomic ‘Swiss Army Knife’ Precisely Measures Materials for Quantum Computers

July 6, 2020

It images single atoms. It maps atomic-scale hills and valleys on metal and insulating surfaces. And it records the flow of current across atom-thin materials

Industry Impacts

A man in a hardhat standing on top of the million-pound weight stack with a person standing at the bottom.

Massive Forces for Heavy Industry

Measuring large forces, such as the thrust of a rocket engine or the deflection of an aircraft wing, requires well-calibrated force sensors. NIST’s unique

Projects and Programs

Accurate Calibration of Atomic Force Microscope Cantilever Spring Constants using Laser Doppler Vibrometry

Ongoing

The application of atomic force microscopy to go beyond topographic imaging and accurately measure nanomechanical properties of materials often depends on being

Dynamic Mechanical Metrology: Acceleration, Force, and Acoustics

Ongoing

The Dynamic Mechanical Metrology Project develops methods to provide accuracy in, and provides calibration services for, acoustic, vibration, acceleration, and

Publications

Disinfection of Respirators with Ultraviolet Radiation

March 25, 2022

Author(s)

Dianne L. Poster, Matthew Hardwick, C Cameron Miller, Michael A. Riley, W. W. Shanaka I. Rodrigo, Andras E. Vladar, John D. Wright, Christopher D. Zangmeister, Clarence Zarobila, Jeremy Starkweather, John Wynne, Jason Yilzarde

Data for interpreting virus inactivation on N95 face filtering respirators (FFRs) by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are important in developing UV strategies for

KEY COMPARISON - Instrumented Charpy tests on low- and high-energy specimens

February 18, 2022

Author(s)

Enrico Lucon, Renato Reis Machado

This report describes a CIPM Key Comparison through the SIM/MWG-7 organization, concerning instrumented impact testing of low-energy (20 J) and high-energy (100

Charpy Key Comparison SIM.M.F-S3 - Instrumented Charpy Tests on Low- and High-Energy Specimens - Final Report

February 1, 2022

Author(s)

Enrico Lucon, Renato Reis Machado

This report describes a CIPM Key Comparison through the SIM/MWG-7 organization, concerning instrumented impact testing of low-energy (20 J) and high-energy (100

Calibration of Triaxial Accelerometers by Constant Rotation in the Gravitational Field

December 13, 2021

Author(s)

Michael Gaitan, Jon Geist

We extend the use of the intrinsic properties calibration method for triaxial accelerometers that we reported earlier from discrete angular steps to using a