Calibration of force measuring equipment at The National Laboratory

Purpose

The national laboratories are responsible for maintaining the national reference standards for each measurement quantity and spreading metrological competence and traceability to industry and society at large. The national reference standards are the highest level of traceability in Sweden.

A calibration performed at a national laboratory fulfils all typical traceability and accreditation requirements that commonly exist in industry and society at large. 

Method

Normals 

Forces up to 100 kN are generated with "dead weight", which means allowing well-determined masses to be affected by the local gravitational field.

Forces from 100 kN to 1 MN are produced by mechanical exchange of deadweight force and forces up to 6 MN (pressure forces only) are generated by a hydraulic loading machine.

Standard calibration

For calibration of force transducers and dynamometers not having the same high accuracy requirements, we can use a type of load rig (material testing machine) with the associated reference sensor instead of our dead weight machine. However, the reference sensors are always traceable to our dead weight machine.

Measurement Uncertainty

Measurement area                                   Best measurement uncertainty (%)

1 N – 1 MN                                                     0,01

1 MN – 6 MN (pressure)                        0,05

We can also perform calibrations on site at our customers.

Deliveries

The calibration results are reported in a digital calibration certificate in Swedish or English which states that the calibration was performed at a national laboratory.