Evolving needs for metrology in material property measurements—the conclusions of the CIPM Working Group on Materials Metrology

Abstract

Over the last few years, the need for wider international collaboration in the measurement of materials properties has been under discussion between the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS) and the Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM) with a view to including materials metrology in the formal international measurement structure established under the Metre Convention. Following a workshop at the BIPM in February 2005 the CIPM established an ad hoc Working Group on the metrology applicable to the measurement of material properties. The Working Group assessed a wide range of properties and explored the role of reference materials in ensuring confidence in measurement data. It also identified a number of different classes of materials that would merit consideration and a wide range of properties that are routinely measured.The Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) drawn up in 1999 by the CIPM seeks to provide ‘a secure technical foundation for wider agreement for measurements related to international trade, commerce and regulatory affairs’ and some materials properties are already the subject of study by the CIPM's Consultative Committees.The Working Group has made a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring an ongoing dialogue between VAMAS and the CIPM. As well as proposing joint activities, underpinned by a Cooperation Agreement which would require VAMAS to report annually to the CIPM on needs for improved materials metrology, there are recommendations which will extend the work of the CIPM's Consultative Committees to ensure that Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) for a number of important materials properties are included in the Key Comparison Database in due course.