Stylus Profilometer

Procurement Summary

The National Institute of Standards & Technology, Material Measurement Laboratory, Material Science Engineering Division , Mechanical Performance Group (MPG) is responsible for maintaining the national scale realizations used for hardness measurements traceability. Hardness testing is of prime importance to industry as it enables the estimation of a material’s ability to resist deformation, wear, and durability. During the course of hardness testing, an indenter is typically impelled into the material under test, using a prescribed amount of force for a specified length of time, and subsequently estimating the amount of deformation by measuring the distance between opposing edges of the created indentation. Traditionally, optical microscopy has been used to quantify the size of the deformation; however, it is now recognized that this method is susceptible to errors caused by operator subjectivity, material reflectivity, varying lighting conditions, and the challenge of the detection of the edge of the indentation. On the other hand, advanced surface profilometric techniques have proven to overcome many of these deficiencies, yielding higher accuracy, and improved repeatability of the measurements. The MPG requires a stylus profilometer system to be used for characterization of the surface of indentations made for hardness testing, and the geometry of hardness testing indenters.

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