Renato Reis Machado, Cláudio Afonso Koch, Rafael Soares de Oliveira, Ana Rosa Martins, Carlos Rodrigo Roesler, Ieda Caminha
IDENTIFICATION OF THE PARAMETERS THAT INFLUENCE THE UNCERTAINTY SOURCES IN ORTOPHAEDIC IMPLANTS FATIGUE TESTS

Orthopaedic implants should be designed and manufactured in such a way to protect the patient and user against imperfections and damages. These medical devices require specific tests to evaluate their performance like: tensile strength, resistance to wear and fatigue, among others. These tests represent a way to ensure that the implants are both reasonably safe and effective for their intended use. Due to design requirements dictated by the anatomy, and physiology of the skeletal structure of the human body, these devices present complex geometric forms and so fatigue tests often involve applying complex load profiles under multi-axial conditions using specialized test fixtures. In this context, the uncertainty evaluation of the fatigue test assumes a relevant role to ensuring that the mechanical qualification of the orthopedic implant is been performed in agreement with the metrological requirements. This study presents an inter-institutional working plan to evaluate the testing machine performance and the uncertainty associated with fatigue tests of orthopaedic implants, including the identification and quantification of uncertainty sources and the first steps leading to the development of a methodology for dynamic force calibration.

Albert Weckenmann, Teresa Werner
DEVELOPMENT OF USER GROUP SPECIFIC TRAINING CONCEPTS FOR METROLOGY IN INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

Measurement results provide important information about the measured objects. In industrial application, this is used to inspect products and control processes. To enable reliable statements based on the measurement results, all concerned employees need sufficient competences to fulfil their specific tasks, e.g. a correct execution of the measurement task, but also a proper interpretation of measurement results or inspection-oriented and functional dimensioning.
So far, many training offers for operators in metrology have been developed. But other user groups in an industrial enterprise also need appropriate training regarding fundamental knowledge and a basic understanding for metrological concerns. Thus, specific offers have to be designed, directed at the particular needs of typical user groups in an industrial enterprise, in order to enable informed communication and support cooperation among all employees concerned with the application of measurement results.
To ensure an efficient and comprehensive approach, a methodology for the development of advanced vocational training has been defined. Following this, a systematic analysis of the metrological competences needed by each user group has been executed. Combined with the results of a user needs analysis, requirements and constraints are defined as a base for the development of user group specific training concepts.

Koichiro Hattori, Yutaka Seino, Takashi Usuda
A CONTACT POINT DETECTION FOR INDENTATION TEST OF LOW-K FILM

In the instrumented indentation test including nanoindentation, the mechanical parameters are calculated by test force and indenter contact/surface area. The area is determined as a function of depth, which is measured as the displacement from surface of sample. Therefore how to determine the surface is important, however, it is not easy to determine sample surface exactly during the test. Because nanoindentation machines detect the surface as a velocity decreasing point or stiffness increasing point with monitoring the indenter motion at the surface finding process. The detected surface point much deeper than the original sample surface and varies with depending on the mechanical properties of the sample.
In this report, we observed the surface contact behaviour of sapphire and low-k film using commercial indentation tester ENT-1100a (Elionix Co.). In the small penetration depth, observed results show the good agreement with Hertz's contact theory for both hard and very soft material. Then the first portion of the loading curve is fitted to the elastic theory, and surface point is determined as zero-force point of the fitted curve. We applied the proposed surface correction method for the elastic modulus measurement of low-k films, which have 150, 200, 300, 500 and 700 nm thickness on silicon substrate. The variation of estimated film modulus for each thickness sample was obtained as 6 - 11 GPa without correction and as 5 - 7 GPa after the proposed correction.

Roberto Buccianti, Marco Cibien, Luca Mari, Bruno Rebaglia
ACCURACY, TRUENESS, AND PRECISION: CONSIDERATIONS BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL VOCABULARY OF METROLOGY (VIM, 3RD ED.) AND RELATED STANDARDS

The paper analyzes the concept of accuracy, and the related ones of trueness and precision, as aimed at characterizing the behavior of measurement processes, and highlights how such concepts, as currently defined by some relevant standards, should be reformulated to guarantee their consistency. Finally, some preliminary suggestions are proposed to this goal.

Elsa Batista, Nelson Almeida, Eduarda Filipe, Peter Lau
EURAMET REGIONAL KEY COMPARISON - VOLUME COMPARISON AT 20 L

The EURAMET Key comparison "Volume comparison at 20 L", between fourteen National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), was performed with a gravimetric method procedure. This paper describes the data evaluation (determination of the reference value and a chi-square test) and uncertainty analysis of the results.