SUB-MILLIGRAM WEIGHT SUBDIVISION AND APPLICATION IN FORCE CALIBRATION OF NANOINDENTER

In this time of flourishing nanotechnology research and the miniaturization of relevant products, the mechanical properties, such as hardness and tensile strength, of relevant materials must be tested in order to ensure product reliability. Because such testing requires the measurement of miniscule forces, relevant testing systems must be traceable to tiny masses of less than one milligram. This paper chiefly investigates induction of the use of a set of weights ranging from 1 mg to 0.1 mg, and describes how 0.5 mg, 0.2 mg, and 0.1 mg weights can be traced from a 1 mg standard weight. This paper explains how such a weight set can be used to calibrate a nanoindenter in micro-forces range and estimate the uncertainties.