When you’re making important investment oroperational decisions, you need to be confident that your data is as accurate as it can be. Ensuring your instruments are regularly calibrated by an accredited laboratory is one important step towards peace of mind.

Benefits of Traceable Calibration

Implementing a regular calibration regime trace able to national standards will have a direct benefit on overall profitability, ensuring:

• Consistency between different instruments (ensuring component parts manufactured at two different locations are compatible)
• Repeatability over time to help maintain product quality and reduce unnecessary scrap and waste

Increasingly accreditation to an accepted quality standard is a prerequisite to doing business. Inrecognition of the link between measurement good practice and product quality, calibrationand traceability feature prominently in certification to ISO 9000 and underpin all testing.

Force Calibrations

With a turnaround time of two weeks and using the national standard force machines, NPL regularly provides calibration and certification of force transducers to national and international force standards, including:-

• BS EN ISO 376
• ASTM E 74
• BS 8422 standard calibration and supplementary calibrations A, B, E, L, and R

We also offer a bespoke service to meet unique calibration requirements.

The facilities can also be used for creep tests and non-destructive testing of components.

National Force Standard MachinesMeasurement range and uncertainties

Mode	Force Range	Force Uncertainty*	ISO 376 Class Capability	UKAS-Accredited Facility
Tension & Compression       Compression Only	1.5 N up to 25 N	±0.002 %	00
	25 N up to 1.2 MN	±0.001 %	00
	1.2 MN up to 5 MN	±0.05 %	1.0
	5 MN up to 10.8 MN	±0.10 % (incremental)	2.0	-
		±0.35 % (decremental)	N/A	-
	10.8 MN up to 30 MN	0.20 %	N/A	-

* This is an expanded uncertainty, giving a level of confidence of approximately 95%.

Equipment Hire

Customers wishing to perform tests or calibrationsto their own procedures can hire NPL’s facilities, together with a qualified operator who will assist with setting up and operation of the machines.