Mass standards - a high-precision study of commonly used methods for cleaning stainless steel weights

Abstract

Studies have been carried out of the effects of using three different cleaning methods on 1 kg stainless steel mass standards, all three methods being suitable for use in a mass calibration laboratory. The methods investigated were manual and ultrasonic cleaning using solvents, and boiling in pure water. Boiling in pure water proved the most effective and additionally produced the most stable weights with stabilities of better than 1 part in 108 over a period of months. Ultrasonic cleaning was almost as effective as boiling but the weights were less stable after the cleaning process. Manual cleaning proved the least effective and the mass change produced was very dependent on the specific cleaning technique. Finally, a summary of the key features of each cleaning technique is given.

Atomic force microscopy studies of surface contamination on stainless steel weights

“…Surface effects on standard weights have previously been studied gravimetrically [6][7][8] and using different surface analysis techniques, such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) [9][10][11], Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) [12], thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) [10,13], secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) [14], time-of-flight SIMS (TOF-SIMS) [15], scanning electron microscopy (SEM) [16] and ellipsometry [5,8,17]. Each technique has its advantages and drawbacks.…”