Stability of reference masses: VI. Mercury and carbonaceous contamination on platinum weights manufactured at a similar time as the international and national prototype kilograms

Abstract

The stability of prototype kilogram reference masses has been a long-standing question within the SI, with mass loss or gain at the surface being the principal concern. In papers I, III and IV of this series we showed mercury and organic carbonaceous contamination to be significant in sample surfaces exposed to typical prototype kilogram storage environments. In this work, we have examined the surfaces of six platinum mass standards manufactured in the mid-19th century. We used x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in order to identify mercury and carbonaceous contamination, and assess the validity of our previous models for the rate of increase. We use white-light interferometry to study surface roughness and polishing damage. We see mercury on all six of the 19th century polished prototypes we analysed. For one weight, manufactured around 1830, we see a quantity of mercury roughly equivalent to 250 µg if present on the surface of a prototype kilogram at the same mass per unit area. The quantities of these contaminations calculated from our XPS spectra are in good agreement with the theoretical models developed in papers III and IV for the growth of mercury and carbonaceous contamination, respectively, and increase our confidence that these processes are indeed happening at the surface of polished kilogram prototypes in most (if not all) cases. We discuss some potential sources of mercury contamination, though the most likely source remains the accidental breakage of thermometers and barometers containing mercury in the past. Mercury in laboratory air can adsorb and diffuse into defects and grain boundaries, especially at polished surfaces. We consider some possible ways to improve the situation, for example by placing a gold foil in the proximity of a prototype to act as a ‘getter’ that will preferentially adsorb mercury.